It's become a rite of passage for Australian basketballers to play in Europe thanks to the incredible trail blazed by Michele Timms 35 years ago.
It was 1989 when the highly skilled, eye-catching point guard, then 24 years old, signed with German outfit Lotus Munich and in doing so became the first Aussie, male or female, to play professionally overseas.
Her glittering CV and lengthy list of achievements were celebrated this week when she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame, just the second Australian player to be bestowed the honour behind Lauren Jackson.
Work ethic, mindset and attitude were part of Timm's DNA as a player and they were the qualities that established the reputation of her, and Australians alike, abroad.
In the decades to come, a host of Boomers and Opals would carve out successful and lucrative careers in Europe, following in the mighty footsteps of Timms.
Tom Maher, the master coach who led Timms in two Olympic campaigns and to five WNBL championships, says women's basketball was a different landscape in the late eighties with the establishment of the WNBA still nearly a decade away.
"European clubs chose American players off college form and there were unknowns around what they were like as an adult. The USA players weren't that well-travelled unless they made the national team," he told ESPN.
"There were great stories of course but there were quite a few sad stories about imports going over to Europe and not fitting in with the culture or the team, thinking basketball should only be played the USA way.
"There was one club in Germany who brought in a highly-touted American player and one day behind the back of a stand in the stadium they had a sausage sizzle and the player warms up and asks "What's that smell?" when she was told it was a sausage sizzle, she sat down and said 'I can't play with that' so she didn't play.
"When Timmsy got a call up and went over it really opened the eyes of the clubs. She goes over there, plays her heart out, gets on with everyone and fits into the culture and they're going 'this is fantastic!'
"So, then they asked her who else from Australia might come across and she said Sandy Brondello. Sandy had a similar attitude and was a really good worker. So, Sandy goes over to another club and now there's a second Australian.
"In those days, European clubs did everything in the confines of their practice sessions whereas Timmsy and Sandy would then go and work on their games individually, they had great work ethics and were great role models.
"Then all of a sudden Shelley Gorman went over, Allison Tranquilli won International Player of the Year in Europe one year, it opened the door for other Australians."
Timms's trailblazing ways would extend into the nineties, first as a pivotal piece of the Opals team which claimed bronze in 1996 at Atlanta, the first Australian basketball team to win an Olympic Games medal.
The same year she was one of the inaugural WNBA draft picks, stepping out for Phoenix Mercury the following year in 1997.
Instantly, she was a cult figure. The Americans liked the cut of Timms' jib.
From the Phoenix fans sporting her iconic bleach-blonde short hairstyle to the Arizona farmer, a lady in her golden years, who rushed down to Timms after a game and declared 'I named my ass after you'.
Maher says Timms captivated the Phoenix community.
"She was driving in the car with her coach and the coach fell ill, got out of the car and proceeded to be sick in the gutter, Timmsy comes around and checks on her and asks if she is ok and can she get her anything.
"People on the street walked up and asked Timmsy for her autograph while she was trying to comfort the sick coach
"They just loved her."
Timms on-court performances, which earned her All-Star selection in 1999 and later led to the retirement of her famous No.7 jersey after her career drew to a close in 2001, set the tone for a new generation of Aussies.
Headlined by Jackson who would be drafted with the No.1 pick in Timms' retirement year.
"Timmsy paved the way for all of us to believe and dream that we could be professional athletes," Jackson said.
"Timmsy going over to the WNBA, doing what she did, having that following, that energy, having the fans be so passionate about her and then also becoming an All-Star, she paved the way for us and she gave us something to look forward to."