Legendary Lithuanian guard Sarunas Marciulionis revealed an untold story on how his injury led to the invention of the Euro step now widely used by many basketball players all around the world.
Nowadays, the Euro step is one of the most used finishing moves around the basket, with many of the top basketball players, like James Harden and Giannis Antetokounmpo, perfecting it to become some of the top scorers in the NBA.
But you might ask: who invented the Euro step? The answer is legendary Lithuanian guard and Hall of Famer Sarunas Marciulionis.
In an exclusive BasketNews Off the Record podcast, the former Golden State Warriors guard revealed a never-before-told story about how an unfortunate injury led to the invention of what is now regarded as one of the best moves in basketball.
Marciulionis shared that just before the start of his NBA career in 1989, he suffered a gruesome pelvic injury that affected his athleticism for the rest of his career.
"In 1989, we went to a basketball tournament in Germany with Statyba (his former team in Lithuania). It was one of the rare chances we got to play abroad," he remembered.
"I dominated in that tournament. Then I stole the ball and went up for a dunk, and some guy went under me and ran away with my feet. I fell from high up, straight on my back."
"I wasn't the type of guy to roll on the floor like a soccer player, so I tried to get up – but I couldn't," Marciulionis recalled the moment.
"Later, it turned out that my whole pelvis was tilted, and one of my legs became much longer than the other," he said. "Then I went to the States, and I couldn't even touch the rim jumping off one leg."
In his prime, Marciulionis was one of the most athletic players in Europe, known for his strength, speed, and leaping ability.
That led to him being scouted by the NBA and eventually offered a contract by the Golden State Warriors.
"When you talk about the points I scored in the NBA, you should double them, because I had to find all sorts of different ways to score," he stated.
"I couldn't jump off one leg, so that's probably why I started going to the rim crookedly."
"I had to do various things to get by defenders. I couldn't jump over them anymore – so I had to find a different way to score," Marciulionis explained the beginning of the Euro step.
Marciulionis' patented Euro step move became a staple in the arsenals of many players after his retirement in 1997.
Stars like Manu Ginobili and James Harden have since mastered it to such a level that young players around the world now try to emulate the move. Yet, it might never have existed if not for Marciulionis' unfortunate injury back in 1989.
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