The NBA MVP race in the 2025-26 season will likely have three European players finish in the top-four with Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Victor Wembanyama (France), and Luka Doncic (Slovenia) establishing themselves as some of the best players in the league. Only in the 1990s did the NBA start seeing elite European talent crossover into the league and start having success. While examples like Dirk Nowitzki and Toni Kukoc are cited as the best examples, Arvydas Sabonis shouldn’t be forgotten.
The father of current Sacramento Kings center Domantas Sabonis, Arvydas, came to the NBA at 30 years old after a glittering career in Europe. Sabonis played seven seasons for the Portland Trail Blazers, playing a crucial role in the team’s run to the 1999 Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, it seems Arvydas was decidedly past his prime by the time he made the switch to the NBA, retiring after eight years and seven seasons in the NBA.
Former Blazers forward Rasheed Wallace was joined by former Blazers guard Damon Stoudamire on ‘All The Smoke’ with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson. Wallace shared three facts about Sabonis that he observed during their six years spent as teammates.
“Three quick things about Sabas. First, he’s the best passing big I ever seen or played with. Second, I don’t know a man walking on two feet who can outdrink him. I’m not sure if he still drinks, but I’m talking about back then. The third one, I’ve always heard stories about him in his younger days. I just hated the fact that if he could’ve got like one last good year of him like ‘I’m still dunking’ the way he was back home. Overall, Sabas is a good dude.”
“He’s funny as s—. Everybody thinks he can’t speak English. He’s in the locker room, reporters asking him questions, and he just shrugs. Reporter leaves and goes somewhere else, he just be like, ‘I didn’t want to talk to that guy.”
Stoudamire spoke on Sabonis as well.
“I would have loved to have been his teammate when he was right because dude was nice. Every time his homeboys came to town from overseas, he got business. He was going to give you that work that night. What made him a selfish teammate was that he didn’t have to play every game because we didn’t need him like that every game. That was always good for him, but for us, it’s a what-if. If he came in with Clyde (Drexler) and all, he might have gotten one. Dude was nice.”
Sabonis averaged 12.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists in his NBA career. Coming over to the NBA allowed him to raise his son in the United States of America and mold him into someone who’d become an All-Star caliber player in the league himself. Unlike his father, Domantas has spent his entire career at the highest level of the game, averaging 16.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 4.9 assists.
Arvydas Sabonis is still remembered as one of the best passing bigs the NBA ever saw. It’s unfair to draw parallels between him and Nikola Jokic, but it’d be foolish to ignore the impact Sabonis’ archetype had in making a seven-footer who would one day lead the league in rebounds and assists in the same season. We see evolutions of certain archetypes in basketball over the years, and Jokic is arguably the best form of what Sabonis was.
Wallace averaged 16.0 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in six seasons alongside Sabonis, while Stoudamire averaged 11.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 5.3 assists over five seasons.
