The surge in the number of international players in the NBA is at an all-time high and with the likes of Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, and Doncic being the best players in the league, it’s only going high
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Just 5-years ago, a mind-boggling all-time high – 113 international players were on the rosters at the start of the 2016-17 season. That number is still high with 109 international players originating from 39 different countries on rosters on the opening day of the ongoing season.
As the league slowly becomes more global, we saw a record-tying six international players in 2020-21 All-NBA Teams – Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Nikola Jokić (Serbia), Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Joel Embiid (Cameroon), Rudy Gobert (France), and Kyrie Irving (Australia).
The Greek Freak and the Joker have also split the league MVP awards for the last 4 years. While the former also won the Bucks a Championship in the 2020-21 season which was their first in 50 years and was also the Finals MVP. There were only 3 international MVPs before these two – Hakeem Olajuwon, Steve Nash, and Dirk Nowitzki.
Cleveland Cavaliers star Kevin Love believes the presence of such a huge number of foreign players and also their dominance in the league which was rare in the previous era is what makes NBA the grandest stage for Basketball. He talked about it on Taylor Rooks’ podcast for the Bleacher Report.
Kevin Love pays his respect to Giannis Antetokounmpo, Luka Doncic, and other international stars who are helping to keep NBA at the top
Although NBA was always the top basketball league in the world, the number of international players was significantly low. From 5 international players at the start league in 1946-47 to 24 in 1995, to now just the Toronto Raptors featuring 10 international players, followed by the Dallas Mavericks (7) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (7).
One of the league’s top shooters and a 14-year vet Kevin Love recently had his say on the subject while mentioning two of the league’s best players in Giannis and Luka who were already top prospects of Europe when they came into the NBA.
As the number of international players keeps increasing and them having the potential to take over as the faces of the league, the quality, and fame of this sport will only go high exponentially like never before.
