The NBA continues to make itself a more global league, with over a hundred international players making opening night rosters this season.
It is the second consecutive year that the NBA has at least that number of players from abroad, including a record number of African (ten) and Brazilian (nine) players.
Canada once again comprises the biggest bulk of international players with twelve, while France has ten. Completing the top five are Australia (eight), Croatia and Spain (four each).
All thirty teams have one international player on their roster for the second straight season. Interestingly enough, the only non-American team has the most number of international players. Toronto has seven international players, with Cleveland, Minnesota, San Antonio, and Utah each have six. Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver have five players each, while Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, and Orlando each have four.
Already three of the newest international players have had impressive debuts with their teams:
Mario Hezonja contributed eleven points, three rebounds, and two assists off the bench for Orlando in their 88-87 loss to Washington.
Emmanuel Mudiay almost logged in 38 minutes in Denver's 105-85 win over Houston. He almost secured a double-double with seventeen points and nine assists.
Kristaps Porzingis scored sixteen points in his debut for New York's 122-97 win over Milwaukee, then followed that up with almost a double-double (ten points, eight rebounds) in their 112-101 loss to Atlanta.
The increased international presence of the NBA continues to manifest itself, with games and programming available in 215 countries and territories, in 47 languages. NBA merchandise are already available in over 125,000 stores in a hundred countries worldwide, including two NBA Stores in the Philippines.
Here are the international players on NBA rosters:
Argentina: Pablo Prignoni (LA Clippers), Manu Ginobili (San Antonio), Luis Scola (Toronto)
Australia: Cameron Bairstow (Chicago), Matthew Dellavedova (Cleveland), Kyrie Irving (Cleveland), Aron Baynes (Detroit), Andrew Bogut (Golden State), Patty Mills (San Antonio). Dante Exum (Utah), Joe Ingles (Utah)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Jusuf Nurkic (Denver), Mirza Teletovic (Phoenix)
Brazil: Tiago Splitter (Atlanta), Cristiano Felicio (Chicago), Anderson Varejao (Cleveland), Leandro Barbosa (Golden State), Marcelo Huertas (LA Lakers), Bruno Caboclo (Toronto), Lucas Nogueira (Toronto), Raul Neto (Utah), Nene (Washington)
Cameroon: Luc Mbah a Moute (LA Clippers), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia)
Canada: Kelly Olynyk (Boston), Tristan Thompson (Cleveland), Dwight Powell (Dallas), Joel Anthony (Detroit), Robert Sacre (LA Lakers), Tyler Ennis (Milwaukee), Andrew Wiggins (Minnesota), Andrew Nicholson (Orlando), Nik Stauskas (Philadelphia), Anthony Bennett (Toronto), Cory Joseph (Toronto), Trey Lyles (Utah)
Cape Verde: Walter Tavares (Atlanta)
Congo: Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City)
Croatia: Bojan Bogdanovic (Brooklyn), Damjan Rudez (Minnesota), Mario Hezonja (Orlando), Duje Dukan (Sacramento)
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Emmanuel Mudiay (Denver), Bismack Biyombo (Toronto)
Dominican Republic: Al Hofrord (Atlanta), Luis Montero (Portland)
France: Nicolas Batum (Charlotte), Joffrey Lauvergne (Denver), Ian Mahinmi (Indiana), Damien Inglis (Milwaukee), Alexis Ajinca (New Orleans), Kevin Seraphin (New York), Evan Fournier (Orlando), Boris Diaw (San Antonio), Tony Parker (San Antonio), Rudy Gobert (Utah)
Georgia: Zaza Pachulia (Dallas)
Germany: Dennis Schroeder (Atlanta), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas), Tibor Pleiss (Utah)
Greece: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee)
Israel: Omri Casspi (Sacramento)
Italy: Andrea Bargnani (Brooklyn), Danilo Gallinari (Denver), Marco Belinelli (Sacramento)
Latvia: Kristaps Porzingis (New York)
Lithuania: Donatas Montejunas (Houston), Jonas Valanciunas (Toronto)
Montenegro: Nikola Mirotic (Chicago), Nikola Pekovic (Minnesota), Nikola Vucevic (Orlando)
New Zealand: Steven Adams (Oklahoma City)
Nigeria: Festus Ezeli (Golden State)
Poland: Marcin Gortat (Washington)
Puerto Rico: JJ Barea (Dallas)
Russia: Sergey Karasev (Brooklyn), Sasha Kaun (Cleveland), Timofey Mozgov (Cleveland)
Senegal: Gorgui Dieng (Minnesota)
Serbia: Nikola Jokic (Denver), Nemanja Bjelica (Minnesota), Boban Marinovic (San Antonio)
Slovenia: Beno Udrih (Memphis), Goran Dragic (Miami), Sasha Vujacic (New York)
South Sudan: Luol Deng (Miami)
Spain: Pau Gasol (Chicago), Marc Gasol (Memphis), Ricky Rubio (Minnesota), Jose Calderon (New York)
Sweden: Jonas Jerebko (Boston)
Switzerland: Thabo Sefolosha (Atlanta), Clint Capela (Houston)
Tunisia: Salah Mejri (Dallas)
Turkey: Ersan Ilyasova (Detroit), Omer Asik (New Orleans), Enes Kanter (Oklahoma City)
Ukraine: Alex Len (Phoenix)
US Virgin Islands: Tim Duncan (San Antonio)
Venezuela: Greivis Vasquez (Milwaukee)
It is the second consecutive year that the NBA has at least that number of players from abroad, including a record number of African (ten) and Brazilian (nine) players.
Canada once again comprises the biggest bulk of international players with twelve, while France has ten. Completing the top five are Australia (eight), Croatia and Spain (four each).
All thirty teams have one international player on their roster for the second straight season. Interestingly enough, the only non-American team has the most number of international players. Toronto has seven international players, with Cleveland, Minnesota, San Antonio, and Utah each have six. Atlanta, Dallas, and Denver have five players each, while Chicago, Milwaukee, New York, and Orlando each have four.
Already three of the newest international players have had impressive debuts with their teams:
Mario Hezonja contributed eleven points, three rebounds, and two assists off the bench for Orlando in their 88-87 loss to Washington.
Emmanuel Mudiay almost logged in 38 minutes in Denver's 105-85 win over Houston. He almost secured a double-double with seventeen points and nine assists.
Kristaps Porzingis scored sixteen points in his debut for New York's 122-97 win over Milwaukee, then followed that up with almost a double-double (ten points, eight rebounds) in their 112-101 loss to Atlanta.
The increased international presence of the NBA continues to manifest itself, with games and programming available in 215 countries and territories, in 47 languages. NBA merchandise are already available in over 125,000 stores in a hundred countries worldwide, including two NBA Stores in the Philippines.
Here are the international players on NBA rosters:
Argentina: Pablo Prignoni (LA Clippers), Manu Ginobili (San Antonio), Luis Scola (Toronto)
Australia: Cameron Bairstow (Chicago), Matthew Dellavedova (Cleveland), Kyrie Irving (Cleveland), Aron Baynes (Detroit), Andrew Bogut (Golden State), Patty Mills (San Antonio). Dante Exum (Utah), Joe Ingles (Utah)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Jusuf Nurkic (Denver), Mirza Teletovic (Phoenix)
Brazil: Tiago Splitter (Atlanta), Cristiano Felicio (Chicago), Anderson Varejao (Cleveland), Leandro Barbosa (Golden State), Marcelo Huertas (LA Lakers), Bruno Caboclo (Toronto), Lucas Nogueira (Toronto), Raul Neto (Utah), Nene (Washington)
Cameroon: Luc Mbah a Moute (LA Clippers), Joel Embiid (Philadelphia)
Canada: Kelly Olynyk (Boston), Tristan Thompson (Cleveland), Dwight Powell (Dallas), Joel Anthony (Detroit), Robert Sacre (LA Lakers), Tyler Ennis (Milwaukee), Andrew Wiggins (Minnesota), Andrew Nicholson (Orlando), Nik Stauskas (Philadelphia), Anthony Bennett (Toronto), Cory Joseph (Toronto), Trey Lyles (Utah)
Cape Verde: Walter Tavares (Atlanta)
Congo: Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City)
Croatia: Bojan Bogdanovic (Brooklyn), Damjan Rudez (Minnesota), Mario Hezonja (Orlando), Duje Dukan (Sacramento)
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Emmanuel Mudiay (Denver), Bismack Biyombo (Toronto)
Dominican Republic: Al Hofrord (Atlanta), Luis Montero (Portland)
France: Nicolas Batum (Charlotte), Joffrey Lauvergne (Denver), Ian Mahinmi (Indiana), Damien Inglis (Milwaukee), Alexis Ajinca (New Orleans), Kevin Seraphin (New York), Evan Fournier (Orlando), Boris Diaw (San Antonio), Tony Parker (San Antonio), Rudy Gobert (Utah)
Georgia: Zaza Pachulia (Dallas)
Germany: Dennis Schroeder (Atlanta), Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas), Tibor Pleiss (Utah)
Greece: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee)
Israel: Omri Casspi (Sacramento)
Italy: Andrea Bargnani (Brooklyn), Danilo Gallinari (Denver), Marco Belinelli (Sacramento)
Latvia: Kristaps Porzingis (New York)
Lithuania: Donatas Montejunas (Houston), Jonas Valanciunas (Toronto)
Montenegro: Nikola Mirotic (Chicago), Nikola Pekovic (Minnesota), Nikola Vucevic (Orlando)
New Zealand: Steven Adams (Oklahoma City)
Nigeria: Festus Ezeli (Golden State)
Poland: Marcin Gortat (Washington)
Puerto Rico: JJ Barea (Dallas)
Russia: Sergey Karasev (Brooklyn), Sasha Kaun (Cleveland), Timofey Mozgov (Cleveland)
Senegal: Gorgui Dieng (Minnesota)
Serbia: Nikola Jokic (Denver), Nemanja Bjelica (Minnesota), Boban Marinovic (San Antonio)
Slovenia: Beno Udrih (Memphis), Goran Dragic (Miami), Sasha Vujacic (New York)
South Sudan: Luol Deng (Miami)
Spain: Pau Gasol (Chicago), Marc Gasol (Memphis), Ricky Rubio (Minnesota), Jose Calderon (New York)
Sweden: Jonas Jerebko (Boston)
Switzerland: Thabo Sefolosha (Atlanta), Clint Capela (Houston)
Tunisia: Salah Mejri (Dallas)
Turkey: Ersan Ilyasova (Detroit), Omer Asik (New Orleans), Enes Kanter (Oklahoma City)
Ukraine: Alex Len (Phoenix)
US Virgin Islands: Tim Duncan (San Antonio)
Venezuela: Greivis Vasquez (Milwaukee)
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