Because the dudes are young as shit when they come over from Europe and their first team basically watched them grow up along with their city. It actually becomes your family because your family is so far away. Like I’ll always remember the story about Giannis sending all his first paycheck back home to Greece and didnt have enough money for a taxi so he ran to the arena and then he got a ride from people that recognized him. That shit sticks with you.

I have thought about this and honestly, I think a big part is that these guys don’t have ties to parts of America or biases against different cities.

Of course they’re not idiots. Giannis and Jokic can tell Los Angeles and New York City are a big deal for a reason.

But imagine if you could play in your pick of European cities. Beyond maybe London because you speak the language, if Berlin makes you feel at home and mostly all you ever do when you are there is work and it’s not like you can really go out in public a whole lot anyway , are you all that likely to say no fuck it I’ve got to go live in Barcelona?

It’s also a case of the grass not always being greener on the other side. You’re a superstar and you know how valuable you are to the franchise and that any team would have to gut their roster to aquire you and at that point is it worth leaving the city you’ve grown close with? Makes more sense to pull a LeBron and test FA

Hilarious contrast to European footballers

Lol at this entire narrative coming from just Dirk and Gianni’s. Jokic is in championship conversation every season the last few seasons and already won 1

Also for American players home is literally in a different state not the other side of the world. So they have the option to live closer to friends and family whilst still being in the league

But also of course they’re not chasing the American fame like the American born players are

This answers the question I’ve been asking everyone every day for years: where the hell is Charlie Villanueva?!

I feel like it’s even simpler than that:

The Nuggets are his favorite team. He plays for his favorite team. Why would he want to play for some other team if the Nuggets are his favorite team?

It’s like if Bill Simmons was magically good at basketball and could play for any team, obviously he would play for the Celtics. If the Celtics struggled it would suck, but he would never be like

“Fuck it, I’ll go play for the Lakers or the Wizards.”

When you’re from here there’s other teams closer to cities and towns you want to be in. I imagine there’s not ton of American players overseas demanding to be traded/transferred because it makes no difference to them. It’d be totally different if his family and community he grew up in was based in a city with an nba team

You think these euro players will feel the same if they played for the Kings?

I don’t think it’s that deep. Most of them are in winning situations so there hasn’t been a need to. Even a bigger reason not to when it’s become a home in a foreign country.

People are saying a lot of things but missing the most obvious in our face answer, American culture is kinda dog shit rn.

I’m American btw but if you look around this sort of mercenary thinking is everywhere. I’m not even blaming the players, in some ways it’s a reasonable reaction to the same dynamic playing out in different parts of the franchise/league/society.

Acting like dame was something on his time with the bucks

Really enjoying CV’s perspective on stuff. Good podcast

European players just don’t care what American market they’re in. I was talking to a friend who lives in Britain about going to visit there sometime, he lives in the Southern UK and he said “surely you want to go to London.” I was like “Not really, no.” I don’t have any need to go to some specific big city there, it would all be a very interesting experience for me. Even a smaller town.

I wanna say that we in the Balkans have seen some insane shit last 30 years and THOSE are the problems, so dealing with teammates or self-sacrifice to get wins shouldn’t be difficult

But it’s odd because it’s not that different from a lot of NBA players. Smart and Rozier were born and raised in places where you live on the floor to avoid getting shot by random drive-by all day and night. Most these players buy their parents a house with their first paycheque. Idk it’s not that different from what we grow up in Eastern Europe.

Perhaps it’s about taking it more seriously, as in American players don’t see this as their only chance to succeed considering how many players drop in and out of the league, but the European players are like “my whole damn country looking at me to succeed”

edit: Although I feel like I heard a few players say it feels like you’re stuck, you don’t want to go home a failure so you have to work extra hard to succeed in the NBA. “I didn’t cross the ocean to stick around for a season and then go home”. There’s also probably the factor of NOT having your homies live with you and nobody stealing from you or distracting you from your job. Barkley iirc talked a few times about his friends calling every day to ask him for money or help that he got depressed from saying no to everyone

Jokic would hate living in one of the big markets anyway.

Kg told me this guy was a cancer to his team

Europeans understand sports loyalty

Preach

That’s because the US born players are more emotional because their cholesterol is high because they don’t eat enough fiber. Full of drama. Luka also doesn’t eat enough fiber. And Draymond.

And it’s a respectable mindset by Jokic.

He’s talking to you KD, ya bitch.

I love when someone gets referred to as a ‘cat’ lmao

Giannis is staying

Neil Degrasse Tyson has some competition now.

But I also think some of them may not get this isn’t like other sports where you can build through transfers and the academy. You’re really reliant on free agency and the draft and have a now almost hard cap. So building up a competitive team and sustaining it is harder

AAU isn’t helping this mentality for Americans either. These kids are jumping teams multiple times if the coach isn’t right or the teams is losing or there’s too much competition. Transfer portal is also incentivizing it too at the next level

Exactly the same reason why the league engineered Wemby to his preferred destination. He could have stayed in Europe but the NBA wanted him bad enough to figure it out . I think as long as they keep a good team around him he is a lifer. He brings great ratings nationally even while playing in a small market.

Didn’t Porzingis ask out of NY at his peak stardom?

Also how many Euro Super Stars has the NBA had?

its about loyalty and kids in america simply cannot see something as bigger than themselves

This is exactly why the rings that Giannis and Jokic won feel so much more special and rewarding to watch. They stayed and built something instead of running from the grind.

that’s even sadder for Luka… he didn’t want to leave.

They also make the most money if they stay.

DR winning the WBC

feel like Denver has mostly worked with him his entier career, I bet Low key he was okay with malone being fired..maybe he pushed for it???

KD will be on the pistons next year.

be grateful Europeans want to stay put and dont look to go to the US cities that are the most similar to European ones, otherwise they will all ask for trades to Boston, Philly and New York

International players also don’t feel the pressure of ring culture the same. More power to them, as far as I’m concerned, in that regard.

Look away, Mavs fans. Look away.

Jokic also hates being famous, I can’t even imagine how miserable he would be in LA or NY

Grateful to have Jokic. He’s a unicorn. Shit, he’s got enough money to breed them in Sombor. Also shows how toxic social media has become. Loyalty should mean something.

He left his country for real money, that’s all their is to it.

I agree with him. It’s basically similar to a comment I made a few hours ago on a different post.

People that think this are only the European superstars that have won a title or who are competing for a title every season.

European dudes don’t care about strip clubs in Miami or film opportunities in LA.

Let’s ignore everything that happened with Giannis before the trade deadline

It’s because what are you gonna do? Trade them and build around an injured aging star? They are already there so you do whatever you have to and try to build around them. So yeah the players don’t wanna leave because they know the franchises recognize they need to do whatever they can to keep the team performing. Some teams do this better than others

Eh, soccer players are constantly on the move.

I’m sure that Giannis wants to move on from our team, and it’s fair for him to think that way based on how they’re currently assembled.

And, while I don’t know a thing about Jokic, it’s easy to say these things when the existing team is either a title contender or a player or healthy season away.

Thought we all universally would be done with this brain dead take. It’s a business and these teams have no problem showing players that

Thought we all universally would be done with this brain dead take. It’s a business and these teams have no problem showing players that

Most of these stars are in good situations, but they can get fed up like anyone else

Look at Giannis - he was pressure the FO to make moves for years and wanted to leave the moment he saw that the teams potential was stuck

I appreciate loyalty, but don’t think they need to be loyal when the league is not necessarily loyal to them. If they aren’t building a good team and they’re just wasting your talent then by all means get out of there.

People will hate it, but I don’t think Jokic cares about winning a championship as much as most players at the higher level. Does he want to? Of course. But he’s not going to run around the league trying to find a championship. He’s just going to play ball and if it comes, it comes.

Man the interview needs to stfu. Like damn, can’t talk without this dude trying to cut you off.

The real question is: Why is there always a Charlie Vilanueva in the league? I swear everytime I think he’s retired, I see him get drafted again or on the court.

Well most guys don’t wanna leave the team they’re comfortable with

Wasn’t he just talking about getting snaked by Toronto?

I mean no one wants to leave a first world city like Denver for a third world dumpster like Sacramento

I think there are multiple factors going on. I think the post-MJ ring culture that a lot of the American guys grow up in plays a factor. It was a major factor for LeBron and The Decision, which kicked off the modern player movement era. Also, a lot of these guys grew up together because of AAU so they want to team up.

Shai has the exact same mentality as US born players. Kinda weird how he tried to weasel him in with the others

Agreed. However I’m old enough to remember the league pushing HARD for more player movement. This was all built by the league and metrics that support fan engagement receives life with chaotic Free Agency

Giannis is gonna stay

I’d actually like to hear Charlie but the other podcasters are so fucking annoying I had to shut it off

I feel like Jokic just doesn’t care about being in a big market like L.A., Miami, New York, etc. He is just happy getting paid to play basketball so that he can do the other things he loves like raise horses and race them.

Referring to people as cats is objectively the coolest way to refer to people

idk he might be on to something

Shai went to prep HS and college in the States, just like Ben Simmons. So this isn’t always the case. Joel Embiid played with Ben at Montverde Academy too, then played college ball at Kansas. If he didn’t get hurt, I think Cameroonian Joel tries to push his way out of Philly.

I’m not sure every coach/GM in the NBA wants their center to have such dominance over the offense system and high usage rate.

I remember Kobe when referring to peak Harden, saying that style of play isn’t good for winning championships. Jokic did get one, against the small ball Heat. Nuggets front line was 6’11 (Jokic), 6’10 (MPJ), 6’8 (Gordon). Jokic can play this way as long as he stays in Denver. He also has the power to get a coach fired, who tries to switch it up.