From my childhood perspective, the Harlem Globetrotters were an entity composed of tall black men playing a strange version of netball where you could run with the ball and they were all interchangeable with each other in the entertainment stakes with no individual standing out. The whole was greater than the sum of the parts. Basketball had curiosity value but in my naivety, I thought that it was a girls' game played by men. Even with some extended exposure to the three core televised sports of the USA this summer, basketball, NFL, and baseball, basket ball remained at the bottom of the interest stakes. I saw a reference to his death online in the past few days.
I'm not belittling the man's achievements but the sport and its players might not have a grip on the imagination of the majority of UK residents - a bit like the greats from the international motorcycle trials world who are of interest to a minority of folk.