ORLANDO – When legendary forward Dirk Nowitzki became the sixth player in NBA history to score 30,000 points on Tuesday, the Orlando Magic’s four European-born players looked on with great pride and awe.
For Nikola Vucevic (Montenegro), Evan Fournier (France), Mario Hezonja (Croatia) and Damjan Rudez (Croatia), the 38-year-old Nowitzki – who is in his 19th NBA season with the Dallas Mavericks – was a trail blazer who was one of the first European players to have big-time success in the NBA. Nowitzki, a native of Germany, became the first European-born player to win the regular-season MVP award in 2007, and he repeated the feat in 2011 when he was named NBA Finals MVP.