Want to hear an interesting basketball stat? 

No, it’s not some far-reaching ESPN-type stat that we all bring to attention on Twitter or Instagram for its outlandish nature. 

International talent has surged in recent years in the NBA with the league’s last five Most Valuable Player Awards being won by foreign-born players. Milwaukee forward Giannis Antetokounmpo, who is from Greece, won the award in both the 2019 and 2020 seasons. The Serbian Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokić won the award in back-to-back seasons after. 

With Philadelphia’s Cameroonian center Joel Embiid winning the leagues most recent trophy, basketball has become an international sport no longer confined to the shores of the United States.

International superstars dominating the NBA is not a new phenomenon. Foreign players such as Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, Tony Parker or Manu Ginóbili are just some names from yesteryear that have paved the way for kids worldwide to dream of making it to America to play professional basketball. 

Since the early 1990s the NBA has grown from just having a little over 20 international players in the league to 120 in today’s game – and that number is growing every year. 

The San Antonio Spurs have played a big part in the rise of scouting international talent with both Parker and Ginóbili being mainstays in San Antonio’s rotation for years. The Silver and Black broke the NBA record in 2013 for the most foreign-born players with 10 on the opening night roster.

The rise of international talent in the NBA may shock some fans and members of the sporting media, but it’s not a shock to the league’s executives. 

The NBA has made strides to spread basketball to a worldwide audience. Broadcast partnership around the world makes the league available to a reported 1 billion people in 215 countries. The league along with The International Basketball Federation will celebrate 22 years of the Basketball Without Borders (BWB) program which brings young talent worldwide to show off their skill to NBA coaches and scouts. Embiid is a notable alumnus of the program. 

The league has created a basketball ecosystem along with BWB. The NBA has opened academies around the world in places like Australia, Africa and China. The league has also sent teams to play games outside the United States to spread the game further. 

By no means has this been all of the NBA’s doing. The Olympics and the NCAA are contributing to the international effort. 

Collegiate programs are allowed to go on a “foreign tour” once every four years. Many programs have taken full advantage of the rule by going to countries such as Australia and New Zealand, while others have stayed closer to home by going to Canada or the Bahamas. 

The NBA’s future crop of players is destined to be more diverse than in years past. The international effort by the league to market basketball as a global brand is proving to be a success, providing the league with a boost in revenue and quality of play on the court. 

Foreign players continue to gain popularity overseas and abroad with them receiving a multitude of endorsement deals. Jokić, Embiid and Antetokounmpo are names that will continue to inspire the next generation of basketball players worldwide so that maybe they too can make it to the NBA and live out that dream of playing professional basketball.