Despite Germany’s Triumphant FIBA World Cup Feat, Celtics Legend Kevin Garnett Struggles to Abandon Firm Belief

The NBA boasts many great international players. Over the last few years in particular, foreign athletes have begun to impact the league like never before. Giannis, Embiid, Jokic and Doncic have all become some of the very best players in the league. While doing so, they opened doors to more opportunities for future players from outside the United States. Having witnessed it himself, Kevin Garnett acknowledges their part in the league but he has something more to say about it. 

While the International players are taking over the NBA and have become the face of the league, Garnett and his former teammate Paul Pierce shared their opinions on it. 

Kevin Garnett talks about the dominance of international players

With the new episode of the podcast, KG Certified, the former Boston Celtics teammates yet again brought forward an interesting perspective to their listeners and fans. In one of the segments, the two spoke about how international players have introduced a new era into the league. Despite the stars making an impressive shift, Garnett seems to have a different opinion.

He shared, “Everybody wants to say that the world is on the same levels as some of the best players in the league… I’m just saying I don’t believe in that.” Recently, at the FIBA World Cup, Team USA left empty-handed. Despite their defeat, Garnett seems confident in his belief.

He claimed that the world has just begun to catch up with America. “Dirk was probably MVP one year, but he wasn’t the face of the league like Giannis was the face of the league or like how Joker is.” 

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“They just got better players that can be at the top now that they didn’t have before. For so long we had the best players like Magic, Michael, Shaq, Kobe, and LeBron. Now we are in the era to where it’s Joker,” agreed 10-time All-Star Paul Pierce.

Clearly, the 2008 NBA Champions are on the same page about the international level of play. While the best players might be Europeans right now, the most quantity of talent certainly exists in North America. Unfortunately, it didn’t suffice on the international stage.

Team USA’s defeat at the FIBA World Cup 

The 2023 FIBA World Cup was held across the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan.

Despite boasting a promising roster with Anthony Edwards and Austin Reaves, Team USA was eliminated by Germany. Even with a great battle put up by Antman, Germany beat them at the semi-finals with 113-111. 

The Finals were held at Manila where Germany won their first FIBA World Cup title by defeating Serbia 83-77. Dennis Schroder, the tournament’s MVP scored 28 points, 2 rebounds, and 2  assists in leading the team to victory.

Did you watch the semi-finals? Do you agree with Garnett? Tell us in the comments.

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