NBA rosters reflects global growth

NBA Tip-Off

The NBA continues to be the global game, as it features 125 international players from 43 countries, based from the opening night rosters for the 2024-25 season.

This is the eleventh straight season that the league has had at least a hundred players, and the fourth to feature at least 120.

All thirty teams have at least one international player, with both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trailblazers each having seven international players. Not far behind are the Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Orlando Magic, and the Toronto Raptors, who each have six such players.

This is the eleventh straight season Canada has the most number of international players, with 21, led by potential MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. France matched its record of fourteen players, led by last season's Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama.

The Aussie contingent is the biggest in its history, led by Kyrie Irving, who was born in Melbourne. Boomer stalwarts and icons Josh Giddey, Patty Mills, Jock Landale, and Joe Ingles are among the twelve others who made the lineups.

Reigning FIBA World Cup champions Germany have eight players, including the World Cup Most Valuable Player Dennis Schröder and the Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz. Losing finalists Serbia have six such players, led by Nikola Jokić.

All in all, 61 Europeans made opening night rosters, led by recent Most Valuable Player awardees Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece). Two more Europeans made All-NBA teams last season in Luka Dončić (Slovenia) and Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania).

The league's work in growing the game in Africa has been very much rewarding, with a record-tying seventeen players from the continent, led by a record five players from Cameroon: which includes seven-time NBA All-Star and former Most Valuable Player Joel Embiid.

That number does not include American players that have ties overseas, which includes the two who have connections to the Philippines in Jalen Green and Jordan Clarkson. Aside from the record number of players from Africa, an additional 35 more can trace their roots to the continent, including Wembanyama (Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Schröder (Gambia), as well as Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo (Nigeria).

The individual excellence of the international players has very much reflected in silverware. Said players have won the last six MVP nods, with a potential seventh in play, thanks to a third straight season with three such players finishing in the top three in voting. At least five international players have made the Kia All-NBA teams, a streak that started in the 2018-19 season.

Fifteen of the 125 have made an All-Star team, including Rudy Gobert (France), Al Horford (Dominican Republic), Lauri Markkanen (Finland), Kristaps Porziņģis (Latvia), Pascal Siakam (Cameroon), Ben Simmons (Australia), Nikola Vučević (Montenegro) and Andrew Wiggins (Canada).

The NBA kicked off its 79th regular season with a doubleheader featuring the defending champion Boston Celtics against the New York Knicks, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Minnesota Timberwolves. Fans from 214 countries and territories will be able to watch this and the rest of the games on tap this season in sixty languages through the league's broadcast partners as well as NBA League Pass.