Toni Kukoc was one of the best players in Europe when the Chicago Bulls drafted him in 1991. He did not join the Bulls until 1993 and even if he added more accolades between draft day and his NBA debut, he was, at best, the Sixth Man for the majority of his career. The reason? He joined a Bulls team that had Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
In 2021, author Sam Smith, who covered the Bulls extensively during the 90s, declared that if Toni played for a team other than the Bulls , he would have been what Luka Doncic is now in the present NBA setting. The "Croatian Sensation" agreed.
"If Michael and Scottie hadn't played in my position, I believe I would have been a much bigger star. When I came to the club before Jordan came back, there were games when I scored up to 30 points each," said Kukoc.
When Luka entered the NBA, he joined a Dallas Mavericks team whose franchise player - Dirk Nowitzki , was playing in his final NBA season. And so after he won Rookie of the Year honors, Mark Cuban gave Doncic the keys to the car and he went on to make five straight All-Star and All-NBA first team selections.
The same could not be said of Kukoc who joined a Chicago Bulls team that had just won a three-peat. Although MJ was playing baseball when Toni arrived in 1993, Scottie was there so he had to play behind Pip. When Jordan returned in 1995, Kukoc was demoted to the third option. He made the best out of his role and won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award in 1996.
With Scottie and Michael gone after their "Last Dance" season, Kukoc was thrust into the role of the main man and he delivered. A 30-year old "Spider of Split" led the Bulls in points, rebounds and assists during the 1998-99 NBA season. But without a superstar or All-Star teammate, they were a horrible 13-37 that season which was a lockout year.
Aside from playing on a team that had MJ and Pip, Kukoc also came to the NBA during a period when Europeans were few and rare. During his era, the likes of Zarko Paspalj, Sarunas Marciulonis, Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac and Dino Radja came before him and except for Petrovic, who became the guy in New Jersey, the others were nothing more than complimentary players for their respective teams.
The times have changed drastically. Five out of the last six MVP winners are Europeans. In the last two years, Jayson Tatum is the only American on the All-NBA first team. Kukoc said if he played in today's NBA, it would have been a different story.
"It's hard to call it the wrong era, but someone had to go first and break the ice. We were the first to say: 'Let's go, whatever.' We will go there and prove to them that we know how to play, too," he added.
Joker, Giannis , and Luka are proof that European players are capable of dominating at the NBA level. However, they would not have been in a position to do what they are doing without Kukoc and his generation paving the way.
