The GuardianLean L·
The end of the NBA’s American empire: how the 1986 draft changed basketball for ever
European players had long been dismissed as a risk by NBA teams. But two picks by the Portland Trail Blazers helped usher in the league’s international era NBA commissioner David Stern walked to the podium at the Felt Forum in Madison Square Garden on 17 June 1986. “For the last pick of the first round of the NBA draft … America’s game ,” Stern said with a hint of a smile, “the Portland Trail Blazers select Arvydas Sabonis of the Soviet Union.” Boos rained down from the crowd. TBS hosts Bob Nea…
Read at The Guardian →
