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Note: Updated for Toni Kukoc’s 2021 Hall of Fame selection.
The modern NBA is a verifiable United Nations of players, with many of its brightest stars hailing from overseas: Giannis Antetokounmpo from Greece, Luka Doncic from Slovenia, Joel Embiid from Cameroon, Rudy Gobert from France, just to name a few. However, their paths to basketball stardom were paved by the pioneering foreign players of the 1980s and early 1990s, such as Sarunas Marciulionis, Arvydas Sabonis (whose son Domantas is now an NBA star in his own right), Drazen Petrovic, Vlade Divac, etc. Notably, during the 1990s, Toni Kukoc from Croatia and German-born Detlef Schrempf were key components of championship-caliber teams for the Chicago Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics, respectively, and early prototypes for today’s long and versatile European players. As basketball becomes more and more of a global game, let us look back on the 1990s and ask:
Who was better – Toni Kukoc or Detlef Schrempf?
The Beginning
Despite both being born in Europe, Kukoc and Schrempf took very different career paths to the NBA – the former starred professionally in Europe before coming to America, while the latter came stateside as a teenager.
A native of Croatia, Kukoc grew up in a family of athletes and played a variety of sports as a youth, including table tennis and soccer, before devoting himself to basketball. At the age of 17, he joined his local team KK Jugoplastika (now known as KK Split) and would develop into one of the elite players in Europe – in addition to leading the team to various domestic titles and three straight EuroLeague titles from 1989 to 1991, Kukoc was a 3x EuroLeague Final Four MVP, 4x Mister Europa Player of the Year, and 5x Euroscar Player of the Year between KK Split and Benetton Treviso in Italy. Though he was originally drafted 29th overall in the second round of the 1990 NBA Draft by the Bulls, Kukoc did not come over to the NBA until 1993-1994 at age 25, right after Michael Jordan’s first retirement; coming off the bench for Chicago behind Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant, Kukoc averaged 10.9 points (on 43.1% shooting), 4.0 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game to earn a spot on the All-Rookie team.
In contrast, though Schrempf was born in what was then West Germany and grew up playing for Bayer Leverkusen’s youth teams, he moved to Washington state as a high school senior and led his team to a state title before attending local University of Washington. There, he was a 2x First Team All-Pacific 10 (Pac-10) selection and earned Third Team All-American honors as a senior while leading the Huskies to a pair of conference titles and a Sweet 16 appearance. In the 1985 NBA Draft, Schrempf was selected eighth overall in the first round by the Dallas Mavericks, though had a quiet rookie season, averaging 6.2 points per game in roughly 15 minutes of action.
Career Comparison
For most of the 1990s, Kukoc and Schrempf were among the best complementary stars in the NBA, each displaying a versatile set of all-around skills while winning Sixth Man of the Year honors at least once.
As a second-year NBA player, Kukoc moved primarily into the starting lineup and improved his numbers across the board to 15.7 points (on a career-high 50.4% shooting), 5.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. However, with Jordan’s return to the Bulls, Kukoc became the team’s sixth man and responded to his new role by winning the Sixth Man of the Year award in 1995-1996 on the strength of 13.1 points (49.0% shooting), 4.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game. In fact, throughout Chicago’s second three-peat, he would essentially replicate these numbers (around 13 points, 4-5 rebounds, and 4-5 assists per game) year in and year out, establishing himself as the team’s third scoring option and as one of the NBA’s elite reserves.
Following this championship run, Chicago’s core was essentially dismantled (Jordan retired again, Pippen was traded to the Houston Rockets, Dennis Rodman was released, coach Phil Jackson left the team, etc.); as one of the remaining stars, Kukoc had his best statistical season in the lockout-shortened 1998-1999 season, posting career-highs of 18.8 points (though on only 42.0% shooting), 7.0 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game. He was posting similar averages the next year until a midseason three-team trade sent him to the Philadelphia 76ers. Kukoc spent two half-seasons in Philadelphia before another blockbuster trade – this time, he was traded to the Atlanta Hawks with Nazr Mohammed, Pepe Sanchez, and Theo Ratliff in a deal that brought Dikembe Mutombo to the 76ers. Since things tend to happen in threes, Kukoc was traded a third time shortly thereafter, this time to the Milwaukee Bucks with Leon Smith in exchange for Glenn Robinson. After seemingly being on the move every year, he found a home in Milwaukee for four seasons – after posting 11.6 points per game in his first season with the Bucks in 2002-2003 in a reserve role, Kukoc’s numbers diminished each year and he never scored in double figures again. Finally, after the 2005-2006 season, Kukoc retired from the NBA at age 37.
Despite his lofty draft status, Schrempf was a mild disappointment in his three-and-a-half seasons in Dallas, only starting a handful of games each year and never averaging double-digit scoring. Midway through the 1988-1989 season, he was sent to the Indiana Pacers for Herb Williams and there, his career would take off. In his first full season with the Pacers in 1989-1990, he put up then-career best numbers of 16.2 points (51.6% shooting), 7.9 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game; thereafter, Schrempf won back-to-back Sixth Man of the Year awards in 1990-1991 (16.1 points on 52.0% shooting, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game) and 1991-1992 (17.3 points on a career-high 53.6% shooting, a career-best 9.6 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game). To top it off, he moved into the starting lineup and earned the first of three All-Star selections in 1992-1993 with 19.1 points (47.6% shooting), 9.5 rebounds, and a career-high 6.0 assists per game, the only player in the league to finish top-25 in all three categories.
Coming off this career-year with the Pacers, Schrempf was traded to the then-SuperSonics for Derrick McKey and Gerald Paddio and would join a loaded team that included Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp in their primes. During his half-dozen years in Seattle, he started mostly every night and averaged at least 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists per game each year while shooting better than 47% from the field; notably, this included two additional All-Star selections in 1994-1995 (a career-high 19.2 points per game on 52.3% shooting, including 51.4% from three-point range, with 6.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game) and 1996-1997 (16.8 points per game on 49.2% shooting with 6.5 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game). After a 1998-1999 season that saw him produce 15.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game at age 36, Schrempf was released by Seattle, but quickly signed by the rival Portland Trail Blazers – he would spend two more seasons with Portland in a veteran leadership/reserve role before retiring after the 2000-2001 season at 38.
Due in part to Kukoc’s late start to his NBA career, Schrempf played more games and seasons in the Association while also putting up generally better numbers: more points (13.9 vs 11.6) and rebounds (6.2 vs. 4.2) per game with more efficient shooting, though Kukoc was a slightly better playmaker (3.7 vs 3.4 assists per game). Additionally, Schrempf was more decorated, with more All-Star selections (3 vs. 0), an All-NBA selection, and a pair of Sixth Man awards to Kukoc’s one. Despite all of this, Kukoc actually has a nominally higher Player Efficiency Rating (PER) at 17.3 to 17.2, though as you would expect, Schrempf accumulated significantly more career Win-Shares (109.5 vs 59.6). In their primes, the two met head-to-head in 10 regular season matchups – Schrempf’s teams won seven of those encounters, but Kukoc outperformed individually (17.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game vs. 16.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game). Though Schrempf has not received the call from the Hall, Kukoc was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2017 and the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2021 in large part due to his pre-NBA professional success in Europe.
Regular Season Statistics
| Toni Kukoc | Player | Detlef Schrempf |
| 13 (1993-2006) | Seasons | 16 (1985-2001) |
| 846 | Games Played | 1,136 |
| 11.6 | Points | 13.9 |
| 4.2 | Rebounds | 6.2 |
| 3.7 | Assists | 3.4 |
| 44.7% | Field Goal % | 49.1% |
| 72.9% | Free Throw % | 80.3% |
| 17.3 | PER | 17.2 |
| 59.6 | Win Shares | 109.5 |
| – | All-Star Games | 3x |
| – | All-NBA | 1x |
| – | MVP | – |
| 3x | NBA Titles | – |
| – | NBA Finals MVP | – |
| 1x Sixth Man, All-Rookie | Other Awards | 2x Sixth Man |
| 2021 | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
In addition to their regular season accomplishments, Kukoc and Schrempf were both invaluable members of championship-caliber teams in the 1990s, facing off against each other in the 1995-1996 NBA Finals between the Bulls and the SuperSonics. Chicago ultimately won the matchup in six games, though from a head-to-head basis, Schrempf put up slightly better numbers with 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game to Kukoc’s 13.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game.
Overall, Kukoc was part of nine playoff teams during his NBA career, with his greatest successes coming in five straight appearances with Chicago, including the aforementioned Finals vs. Seattle. From an individual perspective, his greatest highlight came in the 1993-1994 playoffs, when Scottie Pippen infamously refused to enter the closing seconds of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals vs. Patrick Ewing and the New York Knicks because the potential game-winning shot was called for Kukoc instead of him; despite being an NBA rookie, Kukoc ended up making the shot for the win. Following that first title against Schrempf and company, Kukoc was also part of two more championship runs against the Karl Malone and John Stockton-led Utah Jazz and continued to be a strong third scoring option behind Jordan and Pippen.
Meanwhile, Schrempf made 14 career postseason trips, including multiple appearances with each of the teams he played for (Mavericks, Pacers, SuperSonics, and Blazers), though he lost in the first round in more than half of those seasons; his greatest team successes came with Seattle in the mid-1990s. Individually, he averaged 15+ points per game in the playoffs 9x, including twice scoring more than 20 points per game with Indiana.
On the international stage, both players were highly decorated for their respective countries. In fact, Kukoc played for both Yugoslavia and later, Croatia – with Yugoslavia, he won a silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, a gold medal at the 1990 World Cup, and two gold medals and a bronze at EuroBasket; for Croatia, he earned a silver medal at the 1992 Games in Barcelona and bronzes at both the World Cup and EuroBasket. Meanwhile, Schrempf first played for West Germany at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and later for a unified Germany at the 1992 Olympics, additionally suiting up for West Germany at EuroBasket.
Playoff Statistics
| Toni Kukoc | Player | Detlef Schrempf |
| 99 | Games Played | 114 |
| 10.7 | Points | 12.6 |
| 3.9 | Rebounds | 5.0 |
| 3.2 | Assists | 2.6 |
| 44.0% | Field Goal % | 46.5% |
| 69.7% | Free Throw % | 78.9% |
| 16.5 | PER | 14.7 |
| 7.6 | Win Shares | 6.7 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; upon leaving Chicago and Seattle, respectively, both Kukoc and Schrempf saw their roles slowly diminish into retirement. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Toni Kukoc | Player | Detlef Schrempf |
| 1993-2003 | Decade of Dominance | 1989-1999 |
| 655 | Games Played | 737 |
| 13.1 | Points | 16.8 |
| 4.5 | Rebounds | 7.4 |
| 4.0 | Assists | 4.1 |
| 45.3% | Field Goal % | 50.1% |
| 73.0% | Free Throw % | 81.2% |
| 17.9 | PER | 18.3 |
| 54.1 | Win Shares | 91.0 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Though Kukoc has strong and well-rounded numbers across his best decade, Schrempf was even better across the board and has the advantage in essentially every major category.
My Thoughts
Today, it is not unusual for an NBA team to have multiple international players and to select up-and-coming star prospects from Europe in the draft lottery. However, it was certainly a different story back in the 1990s, when Toni Kukoc and Detlef Schrempf stood out among their peers – as good as they were on the court, I think their everlasting impact on the composition of the NBA was even more important; in fact, as prototypical “stretch” forwards who could shoot (including from three-point range), rebound, and pass, both players would have fit right into the modern Association and perhaps excelled even more than they did in their playing days. In particular, whereas Schrempf developed his game in America and was already a lottery pick, given Kukoc’s dominance in the EuroLeague, if he had been a lottery draft pick in his early 20s and come into the NBA as a franchise cornerstone rather than coming off the bench as a third fiddle to Jordan and Pippen, how different would his professional legacy be? Due to his size and unique skills, I could easily envision prime Kukoc being a “lite” version of Dirk Nowitzki. As it stands, from a pure NBA perspective, I think Schrempf had the superior career, though would caveat that part of it is due to getting more playing time/greater usage rates, which in turn led to loftier career numbers.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Detlef Schrempf
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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