NBA Legends Dirk Nowitzki, Pau Gasol and Tony Parker Bring an International Flavor to the 2023 Basketball Hall of Fame Ceremony

When Dallas Mavericks legend Dirk Nowitzki’s walked the red carpet ahead of his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame, the fans in attendance not only chanted his name, but also waived his German flag.

Later during his acceptance speech, the former Dallas great man said to his parents, “Danke,” which translates to “thank you” in English.

Tony Parker’s fans also booed when he took the stage to officiate.

‘There are a lot of French people in town. Sorry,” said the San Antonio Spurs point guard.

Spain was also well represented, with Pau Gasol shouting out to his national team – ‘mi familia’ – before joining what is arguably the largest international class of inductees in the history of the Springfield sanctuary.

“I want to give a special mention to those first Europeans who came here, across the ocean, who took a chance,” said Gasol, who fell in love with the sport when the 1992 Olympics were held in his hometown of Barcelona.

‘I was 12. It changed my life. The Dream Team showed us how basketball can be played.’

The Class of 2023 brought a decidedly international touch to the basketball hall.

Nowitzki was the first European-born player to win the NBA MVP award, in 2007. Parker’s NBA Finals MVP award that year was the first for a European. In 2002, Gasol was the NBA’s first international rookie of the year.

The Spurs were also well represented, led by longtime coach and five-time NBA champion Gregg Popovich, and Parker, the point guard on four of those title-winning teams. Becky Hammon, who joined the Spurs after a career in the WNBA as the first woman to serve as a full-time NBA assistant coach, was also honored. Gasol played his last two healthy seasons with the Spurs.

“Coach Pop—it starts with him,” Parker said.

Others enshrined include Dwyane Wade – a key part of three NBA championship teams in Miami. He was greeted with chants of ‘Let’s go Heat!’ before asking the crowd to give a blowjob because Popovich had taken too much time.

Wade asked his loved ones to stand as he thanked them, including his wife, the actress Gabrielle Union.

“Thank you for learning the name of every referee in the NBA and yelling at them so I didn’t have to,” he said. “Saved a lot of nice money.”

He decided by inviting his father, Dwyane Wade Sr., to the stage. “We’re in the Hall of Fame, Dad,” he said before one last hug.

Former North Carolina state coach Jim Valvano, who led the Wolfpack to the 1983 NCAA title and went on to become a broadcaster and cancer research advocate, was inducted posthumously.

The class was completed by the silver medal-winning 1976 U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team; former Purdue coach Gene Keady, seven-time Big Ten Coach of the Year; former Texas A&M women’s coach Gary Blair, who took two teams to the Final Four; longtime coach at Amherst and two-time Division III national champion David Hixon; and Gene Bess – who won 1,300 games as a junior college coach at Three Rivers Community College in Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

The inductees received their Hall of Fame rings and jackets Friday at a press conference, which Hammon missed because the Aces had a game that night in Las Vegas. In her speech, she broke down when she thanked Popovich.

“I know you weren’t trying to be brave when you hired me,” she said. “You changed the course of my life, and so many other girls and young women.”

Hammon was not drafted by the WNBA and became a six-time All-Star before joining Popovich at San Antonio. She coached the Aces to a WNBA championship last season.

“The number of times I heard ‘no’ or had a door closed was the number of times I would go up a chimney or break through a window to find a way,” Hammon said. “I wouldn’t change the hard parts, because the hard parts were necessary to build up the courage for what comes next.”

Popovich made light of his basketball talents and his image as a foul-mouthed media foil. He told the players who presented to him to sit down and ‘shut up’. “Don’t talk, just sit,” Popovich said, grabbing the microphone.

He turned to Parker and said, “With Tony, I just asked him to be perfect. If I coached him now like I did, I would be captivated.’

Parker smiled and nodded his head.

As an Air Force Academy player, Popovich said, he was often kicked out of practice. He added with a grin, “I know you all know by now that I’m a perfectly grown person.”

When the music tried to play him out early, Popovich sent host Ahmad Rashad back from the stage. He thanked Tom James, who, as Spurs vice president of communications, is tasked with keeping Popovich from getting into trouble. And then the coach went off and did it again, poking the league for leaving the city of Seattle.

“Come on, Seattle,” he told former SuperSonics guard Gary Payton, who was in the crowd.

But Popovich choked as he thanked his family, saying as if it would be news to those who see him as an afterthought, “I have a family. People think I just play basketball. Basketball doesn’t like us. We use it like a bar of soap. … I don’t remember it saying, ‘I love you, Dad.'”

Gasol thanked the late Kobe Bryant, his teammate on two Los Angeles Lakers NBA championship teams, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020 along with his daughter Gigi.

“I wouldn’t be here without you, brother,” said Gasol. “I especially wish you and Gigi were here with us today. I miss you and I love you.’

Like Gasol, Parker was won by the 1992 Summer Olympics when the Hall of Famer-laden Americans defeated the French national by 50 points. But when it came time to compete in the European Championships, Gasol and Spain often got in the way.

“Sometimes I wish Pau Gasol hadn’t been born,” Parker joked.