The three-time NBA champion was “overwhelmed” with the news that he is a member of the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021.
Jerry Reinsdorf was the one that delivered the news to Toni Kukoč on Sunday.
The Bulls board chairman called his former player up while Kukoč was spending some time in Croatia, where his basketball journey all started.
According to Kukoč, once news spread that he would be heading into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2021, the text messages, phone and Zoom calls, came storming in.
That’s why a few days later, the three-time NBA champion was able to take a deep breath and simply declare, “It’s good to be me these days.’’
Doing his first official press conference since he was given the news, Kukoč was reflective, complimentary, and humbled all at the same time, discussing on Tuesday the path it took to get to Chicago, and more importantly to make sure he was good enough to stay there.
“Well it wasn’t easy,’’ Kukoč said of the jump to the Association. “You all know that at that time not much was known about the European players. And we were coming in there, I don’t want to say total enigmas, but the few games we played against the Dream Team, some folks saw us playing the Olympics or World Championships, and that’s about it.
“I’m really, really happy that [former general manager] Jerry [Krause] stuck with that idea to bring me to the Bulls. Obviously he had a world champion team there, but his idea of how can I fit in that team was something of him talking me into coming over there, and then giving it a shot was the turning point for me. I decided to come over and everything else was pretty much recorded.’’
Kukoč, a native of Croatia, was selected 29th overall by the Bulls in the 1990 NBA Draft, but didn’t join the team until the 1993-94 season.
One interesting point he made in his presser was that was a key season to make the jump to the Bulls, not only because they were a world-wide brand, but also that was the same time that Michael Jordan was chasing his baseball dream and was away from the team.
That meant less pressure for the then-rookie to have to deal with.
“The difficult thing for me was adjusting to the new team,’’ Kukoč said. “As well as I played here in Europe, it was something totally different. I had to get used to a new system, new teammates, a new coaching staff. Maybe in a way Michael not being there my first year helped me a little bit because I got a lot of minutes that first year right away, and could play my natural role more than I would later in my Bulls years.’’
Whatever it was it worked, as the hardware started coming Kukoč’s way very early on, named NBA All-Rookie Second Team that first season.
His time with the Bulls also included being on three championship teams (1996, 1997, and 1998), as well as being named Sixth Man of the Year in 1995-96.
“Obviously I’m happy that I’m here in Croatia, the place that I started playing this game of basketball,’’ Kukoč said. “Actually that night [I found out], I went to the game of my old club, and I was watching them play and all the memories of the place we played and practiced kind of came over me. There were some pictures of me from my younger days playing there, so in a way it’s overwhelming.’’
Easy to see why. Kukoč now joins the likes of Hall of Famers Scottie Pippen and Jordan once again. Former teammates, but forever in the same building.