Friday, October 20, 2017

108 overseas-born players on NBA Opening Night rosters

With the 2017-18 NBA Season just in its infancy, the league continues to make its case for basketball to be considered as the global game.

As of Opening Night, the league has 108 players from a record 42 countries and territories that are on opening-night rosters, five players down from its record 113-man pool last season. This is the fourth straight season that the NBA has at least a hundred foreign-born players, as well as having at least one such player on each of the thirty franchises.

Out of the 108, Canada has the most foreign-born players with eleven, followed by France (ten), Australia (eight), Spain (seven), and a five-way tie between Brazil, Croatia, Germany, Serbia, and Turkey (five). 64 of the 108 are from Europe.

From a team perspective, both the Toronto Raptors and the Utah Jazz have seven foreign-born players, while the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers, and the San Antonio Spurs each have six. Four more teams (Dallas Mavericks, Denver Nuggers, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic) have five such players on their opening night roster.

The league has also introduced the concept of two-way contracts starting this season, allowing teams to have up to two players within their control for up to 45 days, while also being rostered in the NBA G-League. Five foreign-born players are on such a contract.

Here is the complete list of foreign-born players in the NBA as of Opening Night:

Argentina: Nicolas Brussino (Hawks), Manu Ginobili (Spurs)
Australia: Kyrie Irving (Celtics), Aron Baynes (Celtics), Andrew Bogut (Lakers), Matthew Dellavedova (Bucks), Ben Simmons (76ers), Patty Mills (Spurs), Dante Exum (Jazz), Joe Ingles (Jazz)
Austria: Jakob Poeltl (Raptors)
Bahamas: Buddy Hield (Kings)
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Ivica Zubac (Lakers), Mirza Teletovic (Bucks), Jusuf Nurkic (Trailblazers)
Brazil: Cristiano Felicio (Bulls), Nene (Rockets), Bruno Caboclo (Raptors), Lucas Nogueira (Raptors), Raul Neto (Jazz)
Cameroon: Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (Rockets), Joel Embiid (76ers), Pascal Siakam (Raptors)
Canada: Tristan Thompson (Cavaliers), Dwight Powell (Mavericks), Jamal Murray (Nuggets), Trey Lyles (Nuggets), Cory Joseph (Pacers), Tyler Ennis (Lakers), Dillon Brooks (Grizzlies), Kelly Olynyk (Heat), Andrew Wiggins (Timberwolves), Khem Birch (Magic), Nik Stauskas (76ers)
China: Zhou Qi (Rockets)
Croatia: Ante Zizic (Cavaliers), Bojan Bogdanovic (Pacers), Mario Hezonja (Magic), Dario Saric (76ers), Dragan Bender (Suns)
Czech Republic: Tomas Satoransky (Wizards)
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Emmanuel Mudiay (Nuggets), Bismack Biyombo (Magic)
Dominican Republic: Al Horford (Celtics)
Egypt: Abdel Nader (Celtics)
Finland: Lauri Markkanen (Bulls)
France: Guerschon Yabusele (Celtics), Nicolas Batum (Hornets), Alexis Ajinca (Pelicans), Frank Ntilikina (Knicks), Evan Fournier (Magic), Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot (76ers), Tony Parker (Spurs), Joffrey Lauvergne (Spurs), Rudy Gobert (Jazz), Ian Mahinmi (Wizards)
Georgia: Zaza Pachulia (Warriors)
Germany: Dennis Schroeder (Hawks), Daniel Theis (Celtics), Paul Zipser (Bulls), Maxi Kleber (Mavericks), Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks)
Greece: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Bucks), Georgios Papagiannis (Kings)
Haiti: Skal Labissiere (Kings)
Israel: Omri Casspi (Warriors)
Italy: Marco Belinelli (Hawks), Danilo Gallinari (Clippers)
Latvia: Kristaps Porzingis (Knicks), Davis Bertans (Spurs)
Lithuania: Domantas Sabonis (Pacers), Mindaugas Kuzminskas (Knicks), Jonas Valanciunas (Raptors)
Mali: Cheick Diallo (Pelicans)
Montenegro: Nikola Mirotic (Bulls), Nikola Vucevic (Magic)
New Zealand: Steven Adams (Thunder)
Poland: Marcin Gortat (Wizards)
Puerto Rico: JJ Barea (Mavericks)
Republic of the Congo: Serge Ibaka (Raptors)
Russia: Timofey Mozgov (Nets)
Senegal: Gorgui Dieng (Timberwolves)
Serbia: Nikola Jokic (Nuggets), Boban Marjanovic (Pistons), Milos Teodosic (Clippers), Nemanja Bjelica (Timberwolves), Bogdan Bogdanovic (Kings)
Slovenia: Goran Dragic (Heat)
South Sudan: Luol Deng (Lakers), Thon Maker (Bucks)
Spain: Jose Calderon (Cavaliers), Juancho Hernangomez (Nuggets), Marc Gasol (Grizzlies), Willy Hernangomez (Knicks), Alex Abrines (Thunder), Pau Gasol (Spurs), Ricky Rubio (Jazz)
Sweden: Jonas Jerebko (Jazz)
Switzerland: Clint Capela (Rockets), Thabo Sefolosha (Jazz)
Tunisia: Salah Mejri (Mavericks)
Turkey: Ersan Ilyasova (Hawks), Cedi Osman (Cavaliers), Omer Asik (Pelicans), Enes Kanter (Knicks), Furkan Korkmaz (76ers)
Ukraine: Alex Len (Suns)
United Kingdom: OG Anunoby (Raptors)

Here is the complete list of foreign-born players designated with a two-way contract:

Canada: Chris Boucher (Warriors)
Dominican Republic: Luis Montero (Pistons)
France: Yakuba Ouattara (Nets)
Puerto Rico: Gian Clavell (Mavericks)
Sudan: Mangok Mathiang (Hornets)

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