Ah, the 80s, for some magical, for others a myth, for still others a nostalgic thought. For basketball fans, this decade represents a new all-brand cycle NBAwith the pinnacle being reached in the challenges between eternal rivals Los Angeles Lakers e Boston Celticswhich take on the faces of Magic Johnson e Larry Birdwith the league passing into the hands of the man who will make it a worldwide phenomenon, that David Stern who in February 1984 became the Commissioner and who left us just 2 years ago, then, again, Michael’s debut Jordan in mesh Chicago Bulls, in short, years to remember for basketball players and basketball lovers from all continents. But that of the 1980s was also the decade in which historians tend to place the beginning of the Globalization contemporary, a process much older than one might believe, but which took a sensational turn just at the end of the twentieth century, when the Cold War it was concluded and some important agreements were signed between the various countries that allowed the circulation of products but above all of ideas and lifestyles.
This phenomenon cannot be ignored if we think about the expansion of theNBA starting from this decade so coveted by fans of all eras, given that it is also thanks to this new and increasingly free circulation of videos, names, brands and who knows how much more if over the years around Europe, Asia and lately also Africa have become more and more heroes of the new generation players of American teams. Just think of Michael Jordanwho in 1984 was nothing more than a young man with immeasurable talent on which the new Commissioner decided to aim in order to achieve his goal of a global league, capable of becoming the dream of millions of fans around the world. Here then everything started to grow, the money coming from television rights, the number of spectators, the contracts to the players, the values of the franchises and all thanks to a meticulous work based on the global project.
But 40 years after the beginning of that dream, calling NBAit can be said that the process of Globalization of the league towards the outside world, therefore of the USA towards the rest of the world, may today also have influences of the inverse process? To give an answer, the data can come to our aid, even simply by thinking about the players present in the league. The rosters of the teams tell us that today the NBA it hosts 128 basketball players from countries other than the United States, a real legion, impossible even to think of a few decades ago. All this becomes even more impressive if you look at the level that these extra-US basketball phenomena have reached, demonstrated by the huge contracts signed with the teams. In fact, of the 30 franchises, 7 have as a player with the largest signed contract, basketball players born outside the American borders, with even some supermax contracts, as they call them overseas, for more than 40 million a year, as in the cases of Dallas Mavericks per wound Doncicof the Denver Nuggets per Nikola Jokic and gods Milwaukee Bucks per Giannis Antetokounmpo. There are also some exceptions, such as Joel’s Embiid ai Philadelphia 76erswhere the superiority over a teammate is clear but concealed from the contractual point of view by meaningless signatures of US players in previous years.
There is a further fact that highlights this counter trial in American basketball. From the 1955-1956 season the prize of MVP, Most Valuable Player, of the league, that is a trophy given to the player who most of all during the season has highlighted for performances above the others. Over the years the title, called Maurice Podoloff Trophy, in the name of the President NBA who wanted to establish it, it was delivered to a large number of different players for a total of 67 years covered. In the first 63 years among the players awarded with this honor, then by Bob Petit nel 1955-56 a James Harden in 2017-18, players born outside the US appear for only three years, namely those of the three-year period from 2004 to 2007, with the Canadian Steve Nash first twice and the German Dirk Nowitzki then. Going to see the annals of the awards, however, one can observe how today for four consecutive years theMVP go to two European players, namely Giannis Antetokounmpo It’s Nikola Jokic, both for two years each, with the bookmakers who are ready to bet on the fact that even this season it will be a native of the Old Continent to take home the title. We can therefore end by asserting as the idea of David Stern to give toNBA an aura of internationalization, riding like a surfer with an incoming wave from the tsunami Globalizationcan be defined as a success, not only for what the American league has managed to give to millions of fans and not in nations other than the United States of America, but also for what it has managed to achieve in return, that is new champions, new opportunities and an ever more evident increase in the attention around him.
