TONY PARKER – THE FIRST EUROPEAN WITH THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARD IN THE NBA

TONY PARKER – THE FIRST EUROPEAN WITH THE MOST PRESTIGIOUS AWARD IN THE NBA

The dream of every basketball player entering the National Basketball Association is to win the league. Years of hard work before the actual participation in the NBA must be followed by even more efforts in the strongest league in the world. We can be sure that the champions of the race are less than 0.1% of everyone who dreams of reaching the top. Winning a ring is one thing, being voted MVP in the Finals is an even bigger accolade. In fact, even the biggest. It would be difficult to find a greater individual award in the world of basketball. It's up to you to be the most important for your team in winning the NBA title.

In fact, being a champion is not necessary to be the best. But there is only one exception. In 1969, Jerry West claimed the first such award in history, even though his Los Angeles Lakers lost the Finals to Bill Russell's Boston Celtics. But from that point on, every Finals MVP winner is a series champion. And outside of active basketball players, exactly five of the winners are not inducted into the Hall of Fame. For now! One of them was Tony Parker in 2007. But the Frenchman is special with something else. The former San Antonio Spurs star is the first European to be rated the best in the NBA Finals.

From 1969 to 2006, the award seemed to be reserved for American basketball players. There is only one exception. In 1994 and 1995, the champion was the Houston Rockets. The Rockets are led by Nigerian center Hakeem Olaijwon. His successor more than a decade later was the Frenchman Tony Parker. The guard and the Spurs face the Cleveland Cavaliers and a surging LeBron James in the Finals. "Spurs" and Gregg Popovich are more than definite after 4:0 victories. Parker's performance is equally impressive. In an average of 37.8 minutes on the floor, he scores an average of 24.5 points per game. His shooting from the three is phenomenal, which is 57% and from the game 56%. The guard added 5 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game to become the first European MVP of the NBA Finals.

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