50 Greatest NBA/ABA Players Not In the Hall Of Fame

(Photo credit should read GEORGE FREY/AFP/Getty Images)

Toni Kukoc was already a Euroleague star by the time he decided to come to the NBA and the Chicago Bulls in 1993.

The Bulls had used a second-round pick in 1990 to obtain the rights to the then-Yugoslavian star and he played primarily a complementary role once he came to the NBA as a 25-year-old, serving mostly as a playmaking small forward for Chicago’s second unit during three title runs.

Kukoc still wound up playing 13 seasons in the NBA. He was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers during the 1999-00 season, was swapped to the Atlanta Hawks in a deadline deal in 2001 and finished his career with four years as a reserve with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Kukoc was Sixth Man of the Year with Chicago’s iconic 72-win NBA championship team in 1995-96, averaging 13.1 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 26.0 minutes per game while shooting 49 percent overall and a solid 40.3 percent on 2.7 3-point attempts per game.

His NBA career numbers don’t leap off the page — 11.6 points, 4.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.0 steals in 26.3 minutes per game over 846 games — but his impact as one of the early European players to come to the NBA and deliver the goods, as well as his record in Euroleague and international play, should earn him consideration.