FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991)

History

Background

In June 1991, FIBA organised the Jubilee Game, between the European Select Team and the Balkan Select team in Piraeus, Greece, in order to commemorate the 100 year anniversary of the sport of basketball. A few months earlier, the monthly magazine FIBA Basket, the Federation's official publication, was issued for first time.

Process

The list was created in honor of the 100th anniversary of the creation of the sport of basketball, by James Naismith. FIBA had a group of international basketball experts, composed mainly of international basketball coaches, vote for the 50 greatest players list. Each expert voter was tasked with picking 25 players. The voting was tallied as, 25 points for a 1st place vote, 24 points for a 2nd place vote, and so on. There were 51 players selected, as a result of a tie in the vote totals. Players from all over the world were considered to be eligible for the voting, including NBA players.

Five European players that had played in the NBA up to that time made the list (Divac, Petrović, Marčiulionis, Volkov, and Martín). However, no U.S.A. NBA players made the list, because they were not competing in major FIBA-organized tournaments until the 1992 Summer Olympics. Nonetheless, 5 players with U.S.A. citizenship that played in leagues other than the NBA, did make the list (Brabender, Luyk, Galis, Cruz, and Morse).

The voting results were published in the FIBA Basket monthly magazine, which was in circulation from 1991, until the end of the 20th century.

List of inductees

Key:

By nationality

• Player nationalities were selected by the national team eligibility of each player. Total is more than 50 because players of the former Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and the USSR are listed for multiple federations.

FIBA's 50 Greatest All-Time Players (1991) Top 10 Vote Results

This is a list of the Top10 players (Bob Morse finished 17th) as published on the FIBA Basket magazine in 1991.

Other FIBA Basket awards

FIBA European League Player of the Year

Main article: FIBA European League Player of the Year

FIBA Europe's select expert committee voted every year for the FIBA European League ("EuroLeague") Player of the Year award, or FIBA European League ("EuroLeague") POY. The award was for Europe's best player during the professional club season of the European top-tier level EuroLeague. At that time, the EuroLeague was still organized by FIBA, and it was officially known as the FIBA European League, or its shortened name, the "FIBA EuroLeague". The winner of each year's award was announced in FIBA's official monthly magazine, FIBA Basket.

References

Sources

• FIBA Basket monthly magazines 1991-1998

References

1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20250000000000*/https://en.todocoleccion.net/sports-magazine-newspaper/fiba-basket-1-3-5-6-revistas-baloncesto-1991-1992-magic-johnson-usa-poster-estudiantes~x93037605 FIBA Basketball Monthly 91-92]
2. [http://www.fiba.basketball/hall-of-fame/famers#tab=Players HALL OF FAMERS PLAYERS.]
3. "Vlade DIVAC (2010 Class)". FIBA.com.
4. "Nikos GALIS (2007 Class)". FIBA.com.
5. Bob Bergum. (March 2024). "Basketball All Greats". Bob Bergum.