The NBA opened its 2024-25 season with a record-tying 125 international players from a record-tying 43 countries across six continents. With this spread, all 30 teams feature at least one international player.
The records for international players and countries and territories represented were during the 2023-24 and 2017-18 seasons, respectively.
The growth was not lost on NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum.
"This marks the 11th consecutive season with at least 100 international players on the opening night rosters and all of these players are driving incredible interest in their home countries and their regions and globally. And we see an enormous opportunity to capitalize on that," he told international media before opening night.
"As we saw, there was a tremendous depth of talent on full display at the Paris Olympics. I think there were some 140 or so players who had NBA and or WNBA experience playing for their national teams. And I think it's fair to say that no sport garnered more interest and attention than basketball."
"During this summer's Olympics in Paris and I have to say I was."
Here are more astounding numbers regarding the growth of the NBA internationally.
21 - Sorry, not sorry
Canada is the most-represented country of the United States with 21 players--leading the international scene in the NBA for the 11th consecutive season. It is followed by France, Australia, Germany, and Serbia.
61 - Eurovision
There are 61 European players on opening-night rosters. Four of them feature in the 2023-24 Kia All-NBA Team: 2021 NBA champion and two-time Kia NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks; Greece; ties to Nigeria), five-time NBA All-Star and All-NBA First Team member Luka Doncic (Dallas Mavericks; Slovenia), 2023 NBA champion and three-time Kia NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets; Serbia), and three-time NBA All-Star Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings; Lithuania).
17 - It's time for Africa!
The NBA has also achieved a record-tying number for players hailing from Africa. A record five players are from Cameroon, are headlined by 2022-23 Kia NBA MVP and seven-time NBA All-Star Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers).
7 - Lucky number, maybe?
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trail Blazers feature the most international players with seven each. They are followed by the Atlanta Hawks, Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic and Toronto Raptors with six each.
3 - Is a crowd
Three international players have won the last six Kia NBA MVP Awards: Embiid (2022-23), Jokic (2023-24, 2021-22 and 2020-21) and Antetokounmpo (2019-20 and 2018-19). Last season also marked the third consecutive season that three international players finished top three in MVP voting: Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder; Canada) and Doncic.
15 - International quality
There are 15 international players who have been NBA All-Stars: Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Embiid, Gilgeous-Alexander, Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves; France), Al Horford (Boston Celtics; Dominican Republic), Kyrie Irving (Mavericks; Australia), Jokic, Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz; Finland), Kristaps Porzingis (Celtics; Latvia), Sabonis, Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers; Cameroon), Ben Simmons (Brooklyn Nets; Australia), Nikola Vucevic (Chicago Bulls; Montenegro) and Andrew Wiggins (Golden State Warriors; Canada).
41 - Gotta start at square one
There were 41 players last season participated in Basketball Without Borders (BWB) prior to their NBA careers, including 2023 NBA All-Star Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz; Finland; BWB Europe 2014; BWB Global 2015), 2023 NBA champion Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets; Canada; BWB Global 2015) and two-time NBA All-Star Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2012).
2 - The start of something new?
A player from France has been the top pick in the NBA Draft in each of the last two seasons: Wembanyama in 2023 and the Atlanta Hawks’ Zaccharie Risacher in 2024.
10 - (Multiply by 24)
At least 10 international players have been selected in the NBA Draft every year since 2000.
The NBA today announced that a record-tying 125 international players from 43 countries are on opening-night rosters for the 2024-25 season, including a record number of players from Australia (13), Germany (8) and Cameroon (5), and a record-tying 14 players from France and 17… pic.twitter.com/jNpNqZGxjU
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) October 22, 2024
How is the NBA capitalizing the global growth of the league?
214 countries
The 79th NBA regular season will reach fans in 214 countries and territories in 60 languages through the league’s broadcast partners around the world and NBA League Pass.
2 global games
The Miami Heat and the Washington Wizards will play a regular-season game hosted by Zignia Live on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City. Meanwhile, the San Antonio Spurs will face the Indiana Pacers in regular-season games on Thursday, Jan. 23 and Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025, at the Accor Arena in Paris, marking the first time that the NBA will play two regular-season games in the French capital in the same season.
Full list of international players on 2024-25 rosters (active and inactive) by region.
AFRICA
Angola (1)
- Bruno Fernando - Toronto Raptors
Cameroon (5)
- Pascal Siakam - Indiana Pacers
- Christian Koloko* - Los Angeles Lakers
- Yves Missi - New Orleans Pelicans
- Joel Embiid - Philadelphia 76ers
- Ulrich Chomche* - Toronto Raptors
Democratic Republic of the Congo (2)
- Jonathan Kuminga - Golden State Warriors
- Oscar Tshiebwe* - Utah Jazz
Mali (2)
- Adama Sanogo* - Chicago Bulls
- N'Faly Dante* - Houston Rockets
Nigeria (4)
- Precious Achiuwa - New York Knicks
- Adem Bona - Philadelphia 76ers (Ties to Turkey)
- Josh Okogie - Phoenix Suns
- Charles Bassey - San Antonio Spurs
Senegal (1)
- Mouhamed Gueye - Atlanta Hawks
South Sudan (1)
- Duop Reath - Portland Trail Blazers (Ties to Australia)
Sudan (1)
- Bol Bol - Phoenix Suns
AMERICAS
Bahamas (3)
- Buddy Hield - Golden State Warriors
- Kai Jones* - LA Clippers
- Deandre Ayton - Portland Trail Blazers (Ties to Nigeria)
Brazil (1)
- Gui Santos - Golden State Warriors
Canada (21)
- Tristan Thompson - Cleveland Cavaliers
- Dwight Powell - Dallas Mavericks
- Olivier-Maxence Prosper - Dallas Mavericks (Ties to Haiti)
- Jamal Murray - Denver Nuggets
- Andrew Wiggins - Golden State Warriors
- Dillon Brooks - Houston Rockets
- Andrew Nembhard - Indiana Pacers
- Bennedict Mathurin - Indiana Pacers (Ties to Haiti)
- Brandon Clarke - Memphis Grizzlies
- Zach Edey - Memphis Grizzlies
- Leonard Miller - Minnesota Timberwolves
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker - Minnesota Timberwolves
- Luguentz Dort - Oklahoma City Thunder
- Caleb Houstan - Orlando Magic
- Cory Joseph - Orlando Magic (Ties to Trinidad and Tobago)
- Dalano Banton - Portland Trail Blazers
- Shaedon Sharpe - Portland Trail Blazers
- Trey Lyles - Sacramento Kings
- Kelly Olynyk - Toronto Raptors
- RJ Barrett - Toronto Raptors
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - Oklahoma City Thunder
Dominican Republic (2)
- Al Horford - Boston Celtics
- Chris Duarte - Chicago Bulls
Jamaica (1)
- Nick Richards - Charlotte Hornets
St. Lucia (1)
- Chris Boucher - Toronto Raptors (Ties to Canada)
ASIA
China (1)
- Yongxi Cui* - Brooklyn Nets
Japan (2)
- Rui Hachimura - Los Angeles Lakers (Ties to Benin)
- Yuki Kawamura* - Memphis Grizzlies
Israel (1)
- Deni Avdija - Portland Trail Blazers
Turkey [Plays in FIBA Europe, officially considered part of Asia] (1)
- Alperen Sengun - Houston Rockets
OCEANIA
Australia (13)
- Dyson Daniels - Atlanta Hawks
- Ben Simmons - Brooklyn Nets
- Josh Green - Charlotte Hornets
- Josh Giddey - Chicago Bulls
- Luke Travers* - Cleveland Cavaliers
- Danté Exum - Dallas Mavericks
- Kyrie Irving - Dallas Mavericks
- Jack McVeigh* - Houston Rockets
- Jock Landale - Houston Rockets
- Johnny Furphy - Indiana Pacers (Ties to Papua New Guinea)
- Joe Ingles - Minnesota Timberwolves
- Alex Ducas* - Oklahoma City Thunder
- Patty Mills - Utah Jazz
New Zealand (1)
- Steven Adams - Houston Rockets
EUROPE
Austria (1)
- Jakob Poeltl - Toronto Raptors
Belgium (2)
- Ajay Mitchell* - Oklahoma City Thunder
- Toumani Camara - Portland Trail Blazers (Ties to Mali)
Bosnia and Herzegovina (2)
- Karlo Matkovic - New Orleans Pelicans (Ties to Croatia)
- Jusuf Nurkic - Phoenix Suns
Croatia (3)
- Bojan Bogdanovic - Brooklyn Nets
- Dario Šaric - Denver Nuggets
- Ivica Zubac - LA Clippers
Czech Republic (1)
- Vít Krejcí - Atlanta Hawks
Finland (1)
- Lauri Markkanen - Utah Jazz
France (14)
- Zaccharie Risacher - Atlanta Hawks
- Moussa Diabaté* - Charlotte Hornets (Ties to Guinea and Mali)
- Tidjane Salaün - Charlotte Hornets
- Nicolas Batum - LA Clippers (Ties to Cameroon)
- Armel Traoré* - Los Angeles Lakers (Ties to Mali)
- Rudy Gobert - Minnesota Timberwolves
- Pacôme Dadiet - New York Knicks (Ties to Côte d'Ivoire)
- Ousmane Dieng - Oklahoma City Thunder (Ties to Senegal)
- Guerschon Yabusele - Philadelphia 76ers (Ties to the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Rayan Rupert - Portland Trail Blazers (Ties to Morocco)
- Sidy Cissoko - San Antonio Spurs (Ties to Senegal)
- Victor Wembanyama - San Antonio Spurs (Ties to the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Alex Sarr - Washington Wizards (Ties to Senegal)
- Bilal Coulibaly - Washington Wizards (Ties to Mali)
Georgia (2)
- Goga Bitadze - Orlando Magic
- Sandro Mamukelashvili - San Antonio Spurs
Germany (7)
- Maxi Kleber - Dallas Mavericks
- Daniel Theis - New Orleans Pelicans
- Ariel Hukporti* - New York Knicks (Ties to Togo)
- Isaiah Hartenstein - Oklahoma City Thunder
- Tristan da Silva - Orlando Magic (Ties to Brazil)
- Franz Wagner - Orlando Magic
- Moritz Wagner - Orlando Magic
Greece (1)
- Giannis Antetokounmpo - Milwaukee Bucks (Ties to Nigeria)
Italy (1)
- Simone Fontecchio - Detroit Pistons
Latvia (1)
- Kristaps Porzingis - Boston Celtics
Lithuania (2)
- Domantas Sabonis - Sacramento Kings
- Jonas Valanciunas - Washington Wizards
Montenegro (1)
- Nikola Vucevic - Chicago Bulls
Netherlands (2)
- Quinten Post* - Golden State Warriors
- Jesse Edwards* - Minnesota Timberwolves
Portugal (1)
- Neemias Queta - Boston Celtics (Ties to Guinea-Bissau)
Serbia (6)
- Bogdan Bogdanovic - Atlanta Hawks
- Vasilije Micic - Charlotte Hornets
- Nikola Jokic - Denver Nuggets
- Nikola Jovic - Miami Heat
- Nikola Topic - Oklahoma City Thunder
- Tristan Vukcevic- Washington Wizards (Ties to Sweden)
Slovenia (2)
- Vlatko Cancar - Denver Nuggets
- Luka Doncic - Dallas Mavericks
Spain (1)
- Santi Aldama - Memphis Grizzlies
Sweden (2)
- Bobi Klintman - Detroit Pistons
- Pelle Larsson - Miami Heat
Switzerland (2)
- Clint Capela - Atlanta Hawks (Ties to Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo)
- Kyshawn George - Washington Wizards (Ties to Canada and France)
Ukraine (2)
- Alex Len - Sacramento Kings
- Svi Mykhailiuk - Utah Jazz
United Kingdom (2)
- OG Anunoby - New York Knicks (Ties to Nigeria)
- Jeremy Sochan - San Antonio Spurs (Ties to Poland)
*Two-way player
Where's the Philippines?
There are also a number of American players with ties to other countries as well as more than 35 players with at least one parent from an African country. Among the American players with ties to other countries are Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat; ties to Nigeria), Jalen Green (Rockets; ties to the Philippines), Jordan Clarkson (Jazz; ties to the Philippines), Karl-Anthony Towns (New York Knicks; ties to the Dominican Republic) and Jaylin Williams (Thunder; ties to Vietnam).
(With reports from NBA.com)
