National Basketball Association (NBA)
Like other professional sports, the National Basketball Association (NBA) is also a global sport. Since 1947, foreign-born NBA players have comprised 10 percent of all players and most recently from 2010 to the present, more than twenty percent of NBA players who debuted in the league were foreign-born. Over time, foreign-born NBA players have come from nearly every continent representing 80 countries, as well as U.S. Territories and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
During the 2023-2024 NBA season, 23 percent of NBA players were foreign-born. More than three-fourths (78%) of foreign-born NBA players who played during the 2023-2024 NBA season were born in Europe, Canada, or Africa.
During the 2024 NBA finals, 36 percent of NBA players were foreign-born; this is double the percentage from last year (18%). Foreign-born NBA players were born in eight different countries (Australia, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Slovenia, and Ukraine). Additionally, for the past six seasons, foreign-born players in the NBA were awarded the season MVP: Nikola Jokić (2020-2021; 2021-2022; and 2023-2024), Joel Embiid (2022-2023), and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2018-2019; 2019-2020).
For a fact sheet on NBA players during the 2023-2024 season, click on the below link:
For a fact sheet on prior NBA seasons and other reports, click on the below links:
Foreign-Born NBA Players and Their Impact