Ranking the only 3 non-American Finals MVPs in NBA history
The NBA Finals MVP award has been given out since 1969. The first player to win this distinguished award was Jerry West aka "The Logo". West is also the only player to have won the honor in a losing cause. After him, every player who has received the award has been on the winning team.
In 2009, the NBA renamed the Finals MVP Award to the Bill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award, in honor of the Boston Celtics legend, Bill Russell, who is a record 11-time NBA championship winner.
Michael Jordan has won the NBA Finals MVP award a record six times. Jordan picked up the award on each occasion the Chicago Bulls won the NBA Finals in the 90s (1991-93, 1996-98). LeBron James has received the award on four occasions, each time his team won the NBA Finals.
The Finals MVP award has been given out 53 times since 1969. On most occasions, the winner has been from the United States of America. There are very few instances of non-American players winning Finals MVP.
Considering that Hakeem Olajuwon and Tim Duncan attended college in America, became naturalized US citizens and also represented Team USA at the Olympics during the course of their playing careers, there are only three true instances of non-Americans receiving the Finals MVP honor. We rank these winners here.
#3 Tony Parker (2007 NBA Finals MVP)
2007 NBA Finals Stat line: 24.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 56.8% FG, 57.1% 3-PT FG over four games
With Olajuwon and Duncan eliminated from consideration, Tony Parker is the first non-American to win the Finals MVP Award. The Frenchman won the distinction when the San Antonio Spurs steamrolled the Cleveland Cavaliers 4-0 in the 2007 NBA Finals.
2007 #NBAFinals In the @spurs four-game sweep of @cavs Tony Parker became the first European-born player to win Finals MVP (24.5, 56.8 FG%) https://t.co/k4sVQX9Vbv
Parker averaged 24.5 points, the most by any player on either team in that Finals series. He shot better than 55% from the field and the three-point line. His best performance of the series came in Game 2 when he dropped 30 points while going 13-of-20 from the field at a phenomenally efficient shooting rate of 65%.
Parker also contributed 24 points and seven rebounds in the low-scoring, closeout Game 4 contest where the Spurs edged the Cavs 83-82. With this perspective, of Parker’s four NBA titles with the Spurs, the 2007 chip would surely mean a lot more to him.
Tony Parker was named MVP of the 2007 NBA Finals.
GM1: 27 PTS, 7 AST
GM2: 30 PTS (13-20 FG)
GM3: 17 PTS, 5 REB
GM4: 24 PTS, 7 REB (10-14 FG) https://t.co/ZgJO99zdaW
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