It was recently that a controversy erupted, wherein Dennis Schröder emphasized the fact that the high-IQ style of European basketball provides an edge and a much-needed high-handedness to the European players. According to the German basketball point guard, it allows enough leeway for the European players to become stiff challenging competitors against Team USA in FIBA tournaments. It also enables them to increasingly assert their dominance in the NBA court. As he went on to reiterate: “Europeans in the NBA are making some noise“.

It was after Team USA’s narrow escape against Serbia in the nail-biting Olympic semifinals that Dennis Schröder took his chance to issue a formidable warning about the rising challenge posed by the European teams. Schroder’s opinion gathered enough steam and led to raised eyebrows. However, now his claims seem to have found a strong defender in the NFL legend Shannon Sharpe.

On the latest episode of Nightcap, Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson were joined by the Olympic men’s street skateboarding bronze medalist Nyjah Huston and 400-meter gold medalist Quincy Hall to discuss their performances at the recent 2024 Paris Olympics.

The NFL duo also discussed the triumph of the USAB men’s basketball team at the Olympics, as they recalled Schroder’s comments and backed the German guard. When asked about the rise of European basketball posing a challenge to Team USA’s top-seeded players, Schroder had highlighted the differences between the two styles of play: “European basketball is more… I need to be careful with it,” he said, taking an emphatic pause to take time to come up with his response.

“European basketball is no entertainment, it’s straight IQ basketball. Straight coaching. It’s filled with really really high-IQ players who know how to play the game. Teams like Serbia, Greece, Spain, France, and Germany—there are so many teams that know how to play and are athletic,” Schroder went on to explain.

The Nets star further brought the spotlight back on the increasing influence of European players in the NBA courts, stating, “A lot of Europeans in the NBA are making some noise. Slovenia’s Luka Doncic is one of the best players in the world. Of course, the NBA is the best league in the world, but Europeans are coming for sure.”

Sharpe backed Schröder’s claims, further adding that the NBA ought not to take the rising European talent pool for granted, “You look at the Europeans, nobody says they are entertaining. Americans, us, the Americans like more entertainment, like KD, like LeBron, like Steph Curry. They (Europeans) play fundamentally sound basketball. Maybe the NBA needs to adopt some of those [FIBA] rules,” Sharpe said while discussing Schroder’s comments with Chad Johnson.

The NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, apparently, hasn’t been keen to adopt FIBA rules in the league. On his visit to Paris during the Olympics, when Silver was walking around a French neighborhood with his family, he happened to see NBA jerseys worn by people almost everywhere. Current ones, classic ones, every kind. That solidified his confidence regarding the NBA’s global reach. But Sharpe’s backing of Schroder has opened up the FIBA-NBA debate again.

Does USA struggle in international tournaments because of FIBA rules?

Schroder’s comments cannot be dismissed outright, as he has some strong backing to the claims he makes. We all saw how Team USA secured a narrow victory over Serbia: 95-91 in the sensational semifinals. If we talk about last year’s World Championship, the USA fell short of the podium finish, losing to Germany in the semifinals and then to Canada in the third-place game.

This year, however, Team USA emerged as the champions achieving the golden glory for the fifth time at the Olympics. The winning streak was kept very much intact by the matchless contribution from the likes of NBA stars like Steph Curry, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant. The runner-ups were the home favorites France.

However, after Sharpe’s defense of Schröder, much needs to be looked into, as the NBA stars return after being crowned the champions in a European nation. It can’t be denied though that despite FIBA posing a challenge, the NBA’s popularity is definitely here to stay!