The National Basketball Association enters opening night with 125 international players on regular-season rosters.
Players from 40 countries and territories spread across six continents are represented. This is the 10th straight season that the league’s opening rosters have featured at least 100 international players and the third straight with at least 120, the NBA said.
All 30 NBA teams have at least one foreign-born player.
A record number of players — 26 — are from Canada, with 14 from France in the NBA. Those countries have the most players from outside the United States, followed by Australia (nine players), Serbia (seven) and Germany (six).
The Dallas Mavericks and Oklahoma City Thunder each have eight international players, followed by the Toronto Raptors and the San Antonio Spurs with seven each. The Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns each have six.
The last five NBA Most Valuable Player awards have gone to international players: Joel Embiid (Cameroon, 2022-23), Nikola Jokic (Serbia, 2021-22 and 2020-21) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece, 2019-20 and 2018-19).
–Field Level Media
