The Euroscar European Player of the Year Award known as European basketball's Oscar award, is an annual basketball award that started in 1979. The award names each year's best European basketball player, regardless of where he plays in the world, including NBA players. The award is judged on the basis of both sports club and national team performances and accomplishments. This is not the official European basketball player of the year award, which is the FIBA European Player of the Year Award.
The Euroscar is decided upon by a committee composed of coaches, players and sportswriters from 14 different countries, who submit their vote for the year's best European basketball player from the previous calendar year. The award is given out by the Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. It is one of three "player of the year awards" that any European basketball player can receive, along with the official FIBA European Player of the Year Award and the Italian Superbasket Magazine's Mr. Europa Award.
Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis currently holds the record for most wins with six. Croatian small forward Toni Kukoč and German power forward Dirk Nowitzki are next on the list with five apiece.
Nowitzki's awards are unique on two grounds: first, they were all earned for playing in the NBA, none for playing in European basketball leagues; second, they were all consecutive, from 2002 through 2006. The former distinction has become less important in recent years. Since Dražen Petrović won his third award in 1992, while playing for the New Jersey Nets, only two Euroscar winners — Sabonis in 1995 and Gregor Fučka in 2000 — played in a European league during the year they won the award, and only Fučka did not play in the NBA for any part of his award-winning year.
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When a winner has played for more than one club team in the calendar year of his award, all are listed.