When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won the MVP last month, it marked the seventh straight MVP who was born outside of the US, following Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. But Shai also has the opportunity to make another win for international players. He could finish his playoff run with a championship.

When you talk about the best non-American players to lead a team to a title, there’s a long list of names. Since the turn of the century, there was Jokic in 2023, Giannis in 2021 and Dirk Nowitzki in 2011. Those three Europeans each had some of the best playoff runs the game of basketball has ever seen.

Nicolas Batum is uniquely qualified to speak on European basketball. The Frenchman has played for what feels like centuries, but is, in fact, 17 years. During that time, he was frequently the face of French basketball, and he’s as knowledgable on the sport as anyone. Batum joined The Young Man and the Three podcast to try to rank those three rings.

“In the 2023 Western Conference Finals against the Lakers, it was insane,” started Batum. “You could see [Jokic]’s gonna win it this year. He’s untouchable. He is the best player in the world. It’s one of the greatest playoff runs by one player, especially European player… Dirk is No. 1 in 2011, but what he did in 2023, at that moment, people were like, ‘Okay, he’s that guy.'”

While the playoff run was certainly a focus, that’s not where Batum’s praise of Jokic ended. When asked about when he knew that the Serbian big was on his way to being an all-time great, Batum couldn’t stop gushing about him.

“If you’re watching the Olympics, yes, team USA, Steph, Bron, but the best of the tournament was Jokic . He’s maybe the only guy we have lately that’s the best in FIBA and in the NBA.” 

It is true that the best players in the world frequently do not end up being the best players in the Olympics. In FIBA two years ago, it was Dennis Schröder taking over for Germany, when either Jokic or Giannis were the best players in the world.

Greatness defines players, but their growth is not always linear. Jokic took a leap in his stashed year in Europe before slowly becoming first a starter, then an All-Star and then an MVP. As Batum put it, he’s been the most improved player every year.