By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The NBA G-League isn’t ‘swarming’ with players from Europe but there’s still quite a bit of talent among them and some have already started getting their chance in the NBA while some need to take a step to the next level.
To avoid confusion, the list consists of all players regardless of the type of contract as long as they have enough playing time in the league. Also, although some of them have NBA experience, it’s at most in the early stages or without a real impact and they spend much more time on the floor in the G-League.
Without further ado, here are the best European players in the G-League:
Luka Samanic
Luka Samanic started his professional career in Spain with Barcelona’s reserve team showing a glimpse of his potential from time to time. He then moved on to join Petrol Olimpija where the team counted him more as the season went by and he used the chance show off his talent, especially in Basketball Champions Leauge. It was enough to catch the eye of NBA scouts and he then further impressed the teams with his performance at the NBA Draft Combine. His rank on mock Drafts improved drastically, and in the end, he got selected 19th by the San Antonio Spurs.
They assigned him to the Austin Spurs in the G-League and the 19-year-old Croatian forward has averaged 12.9 points, 7.2 boards, and 1.4 assists so far over 19 games. Samanic’s best performance was against the Windy City Bulls when he logged 26 points on 11-17 shooting (4-8 threes), ten boards, two blocks, one steal, and one assist.