McDonald's Championship

• 1. Introduction

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  Nine times the McDonald's Championship was played, and nine different National Basketball Association clubs lifted the title. Every edition ran over a single late-October preseason weekend. Yet both FIBA and the NBA formally recognized it as a Championship. Launched in 1987 as the McDonald's Open, the competition set NBA clubs against champions from Europe, South America, and Oceania. Asia would eventually join the field as well. Behind nine consecutive NBA titles were two moments tight enough to have changed that record entirely.

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• 2. Dominance and Drama

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  Gerald Wilkins hit a three-pointer with eight seconds remaining in 1990 to keep the New York Knicks' semifinal alive. The Knicks had trailed Scavolini Pesaro of Italy by three points, 107-104, with thirty seconds left on the clock. After forcing a defensive stop and winning back possession, Wilkins converted from distance, sending the game to overtime. New York went on to win the final that weekend, defeating POP 84 by 117-101.

  The 1991 final produced an even narrower margin, with the Los Angeles Lakers edging Montigalà Joventut of Spain 116-114. Those were the only two editions where a non-NBA side came within reach of the title.

  The Milwaukee Bucks won the inaugural edition in 1987, defeating the Soviet national team 127-100. Virtus Bologna reached the final in 1993 and 1995, losing on both occasions. Alongside KK Split, Bologna is the only club to have finished runner-up more than once.

  Atenas Cordoba of Argentina became the first South American club champion invited to compete in 1997, and the club finished third in that edition.

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• 3. Stars of the Game

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  Terry Cummings of the Milwaukee Bucks received the first MVP award in 1987. Nine editions were held, and nine different players claimed the MVP prize across them. Only three players representing NBA sides ever won the top-scorer award: Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, and Larry Bird.

  Bob McAdoo won the top-scorer prize in 1987 and 1989 while with Olimpia Milano, accumulating his competition-record 158 points across those two editions. Jordi Villacampa of Montigalà Joventut claimed the award in 1991, despite his side losing the final that year. Joe Arlauckas won it for Real Madrid Teka in 1993. Orlando Woolridge claimed it for Buckler Beer Bologna in 1995, and Charles Byrd for Vasco da Gama in 1999.

  Toni Kukoc holds the competition's all-time assists record. Among the non-American players who competed across the nine editions were Drazen Petrovic, Arvydas Sabonis, Predrag Danilovic, Sarunas Marciulionis, Fabricio Oberto, and Dino Meneghin. From 1995 onward, the competition required the NBA's reigning champion to participate; EuroLeague club champions had already been required from 1989.

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• 4. On the Air

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  ABC held the American broadcast rights for the first three editions, from 1987 through 1989. Gary Bender and Dick Vitale provided commentary for those broadcasts, with TBS offering supplemental coverage. Starting in 1990, NBC took over as the American network home and carried the finals through 1997. TNT broadcast the 1999 edition exclusively, with Marv Albert, Doug Collins, and Hubie Brown in the commentary position. Perth Wildcats of Australia finished third in the 1995 edition, representing Oceania's National Basketball League.

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• 5. The Petrovic Prize

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  FIBA Secretary General Borislav Stankovic and NBA Commissioner David Stern both believed basketball would benefit from the world's best players competing against each other directly. Stern served in that role from 1984 to 2014. In 1989, two years into the competition's run, FIBA voted to allow NBA players to participate in all its international tournaments.

  Drazen Petrovic gave his name to the competition's MVP award. The Yugoslav guard played in the tournament with Real Madrid, who finished as runners-up in 1988, and died in 1993. Michael Jordan was among the nine different players to receive the award, winning it in 1997 with the Chicago Bulls.

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• 6. The Final Edition

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  Lebanon's Sagesse Club, the FIBA Asia club champion, competed in 1999 as the first and only Asian representative the McDonald's Championship ever included. San Antonio Spurs defeated Vasco da Gama of Brazil 103-68 in that year's final.

  The 1992, 1994, and 1996 editions were not held when NBA players competed in the Olympics and the FIBA World Cup. The 1998 edition was lost to the NBA lockout.

  The 2000 dispute between FIBA and the EuroLeague brought the McDonald's Championship to a permanent end. That dispute stripped FIBA of control over its top-tier European club competition. Without that structural relationship, no further editions were possible.

  Italy placed more clubs in the top four than any other non-American country across the competition's full run. Italian sides finished as runners-up twice, third twice, and fourth three times.

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