Top 5 former NBA players who found success in European basketball

#3 Dominique Wilkins

Chris Bosh #1 of the Miami Heat and the Eastern Conference celebrates with NBA Legend Dominique Wilkins

Dominique Wilkins made several trips to and from the NBA in his 17-year career as a basketball player. Although he did not win an NBA championship, he had a successful NBA career, making nine All-Star appearances, and was the scoring champion in 1986.

An area where Wilkins excelled was by dunking the ball, and he took that to Europe during his two different runs. He played for Panathinaikos in Greece and helped them win the Greek Cup in 1996. The nine-time NBA All-Star also won the Greek Cup Finals MVP and was the top scorer.

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Wilkins returned to the NBA after his one-year stint in Greece and was part of the bench unit for the San Antonio Spurs. However, he left for Italy to play for Fortutido Bologna and helped down win the Italian Cup.

The two-time slam dunk champion made a final return to the NBA to play with the Orlando Magic. At the end of the 1998-99 season, he retired from professional basketball and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2006.

#2 Luis Scola

Luis Scola #4 of Team Argentina aknowledges the the crowd

Luis Scola started his basketball career in Europe, playing in Spain from 1999-2007. He was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2005 NBA draft but terms of his buyout could not be reached so the Spurs traded the rights to Scola in 2007.

Scola played only ten seasons in the NBA before retiring as a 36-year-old. He played in China for two seasons before returning to Europe to play for Olympia Milano in the 2019-20 season and Varese in the 2020-21 season.

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Although his contract with Varese had the option of an extension, Scola's playing days are over as he recently rejoined the team as its chief executive officer.

#1 Bob McAdoo

NBA photographer Andy Bernstein (R) shares a laugh with Bob McAdoo

Bob McAdoo made an instant impact in the NBA after he was selected with the second overall pick by the Buffalo Braves in the 1972 draft. In his sophomore season, he averaged 30.6 points and was the scoring champion that season.

McAdoo got better in his third season as he averaged 34.5 points and 14.1 rebounds to win the second of three consecutive scoring titles. After a successful NBA career where he was crowned MVP once and won two championships, he opted to play in Europe.

The five-time All-Star played for three Italian teams in seven years and won one Italian Cup and two Italian league championships. Added to that were two EuroLeague championships and a EuroLeague Finals MVP.