NBA rosters feature 107 international players from 41 countries

Dec 24 2020 10:14PM UTC

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The NBA announced that 107 international players from 41 countries are on opening-night rosters for the 2020-21 NBA season, including a record 17 Canadian players and a record-tying 14 African players.

This marks the seventh consecutive season that opening-night rosters feature at least 100 international players. All 30 teams have at least one international player.

In addition to the 107 international players on opening-night rosters, there are 10 international players from a record-tying eight countries on two-way contracts, allowing them to play in up to 50 NBA games this season.

For the seventh consecutive year, Canada (17 players) is the most-represented country outside of the U.S., followed by France (nine players), Australia (eight players), Serbia and Germany (six players each).

The Washington Wizards have an NBA-high seven international players. The Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets each have six, while the New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder and Toronto Raptors each have five.

A record 34 players on opening-night rosters participated in Basketball Without Borders (BWB) prior to starting their NBA careers, surpassing the previous record of 30 set in 2019-20. Former BWB campers include Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2011), Jamal Murray (Nuggets; Canada; BWB Global 2015) and Pascal Siakam (Raptors; Cameroon; BWB Africa 2012). BWB is the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development and community outreach program that has seen 76 former campers drafted into the NBA or signed as free agents since 2001.

There are also a number of American players with ties to other countries, including more than 30 players with at least one parent from Africa. Among the American players with ties to other countries are Jordan Clarkson (Utah Jazz; ties to the Philippines), Victor Oladipo (Indiana Pacers; ties to Nigeria), Matisse Thybulle (76ers; ties to Australia and Haiti) and Karl-Anthony Towns (Minnesota Timberwolves; ties to the Dominican Republic).

The records for international players (113) and countries and territories represented (42) were set at the start of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons, respectively.

Here are some international player milestones and storylines for the upcoming season:

A record six international players were named to the 2019-20 All-NBA Team: Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks; Greece; ties to Nigeria; All-NBA First Team); Luka Dončić (Mavericks; Slovenia; All-NBA First Team); Nikola Jokić (Nuggets; Serbia; All-NBA Second Team); Siakam (All-NBA Second Team); Rudy Gobert (Jazz; France; All-NBA Third Team); and Ben Simmons (76ers; Australia; All-NBA Third Team).
There are 14 international players on opening-night rosters who have been NBA All-Stars: Antetokounmpo, Dončić, Goran Dragić (Miami Heat; Slovenia), Embiid, Marc Gasol (Lakers; Spain), Gobert, Al Horford (Oklahoma City Thunder; Dominican Republic), Kyrie Irving (Nets; Australia), Jokić, Kristaps Porzingis (Mavericks; Latvia), Domantas Sabonis (Pacers; Lithuania), Siakam, Simmons and Nikola Vučević (Orlando Magic; Montenegro).
As part of the NBA.com 2020-2021 GM Survey, Antetokounmpo and Dončić were voted the No. 1 and No. 2 players most likely to win 2020-21 NBA Most Valuable Player (32% and 21% of votes, respectively), and tied for the No. 1 player with whom general managers would most want to start a franchise (43% of votes each). For the second straight season, Jokić was voted the best center in the NBA (50% of votes).
Deni Avdija, who became the highest-drafted Israeli player ever when he was selected ninth overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2020 NBA Draft.
Killian Hayes became the highest-drafted French player ever when he was selected seventh overall by the Detroit Pistons.
Nine players from or with at least one parent from Nigeria were selected in NBA Draft 2020, including Precious Achiuwa (Heat; Nigeria) and Udoka Azubuike (Jazz; Nigeria).

Here's the full list of international players on 2020-21 opening-night rosters (active and inactive):

Country	Name	Team
Angola	Bruno Fernando	Atlanta Hawks
Argentina	Facundo Campazzo*	Denver Nuggets
Australia	Aron Baynes	Toronto Raptors
Australia	Matthew Dellavedova	Cleveland Cavaliers
Australia	Danté Exum	Cleveland Cavaliers
Australia	Josh Green	Dallas Mavericks
Australia	Joe Ingles	Utah Jazz
Australia	Kyrie Irving	Brooklyn Nets
Australia	Patty Mills	San Antonio Spurs
Australia	Ben Simmons	Philadelphia 76ers
Austria	Jakob Poeltl	San Antonio Spurs
Bahamas	Buddy Hield	Sacramento Kings
Bahamas	Deandre Ayton*	Phoenix Suns
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Jusuf Nurkić	Portland Trail Blazers
Brazil	Bruno Caboclo*	Houston Rockets
Brazil	Cristiano Felicio	Chicago Bulls
Brazil	Raul Neto	Washington Wizards
Cameroon	Joel Embiid*	Philadelphia 76ers
Cameroon	Pascal Siakam*	Toronto Raptors
Canada	Nickeil Alexander-Walker	New Orleans Pelicans
Canada	RJ Barrett*	New York Knicks
Canada	Khem Birch	Orlando Magic
Canada	Ignas Brazdeikis*	New York Knicks
Canada	Dillon Brooks	Memphis Grizzlies
Canada	Brandon Clarke	Memphis Grizzlies
Canada	Luguentz Dort*	Oklahoma City Thunder
Canada	Cory Joseph	Sacramento Kings
Canada	Mfiondu Kabengele	LA Clippers
Canada	Trey Lyles	San Antonio Spurs
Canada	Mychal Mulder	Golden State Warriors
Canada	Jamal Murray*	Denver Nuggets
Canada	Kelly Olynyk*	Miami Heat
Canada	Dwight Powell	Dallas Mavericks
Canada	Tristan Thompson	Boston Celtics
Canada	Andrew Wiggins	Golden State Warriors
Canada	Shai Gilgeous-Alexander*	Oklahoma City Thunder
Croatia	Bojan Bogdanović	Utah Jazz
Croatia	Luka Šamanić*	San Antonio Spurs
Croatia	Dario Šarić*	Phoenix Suns
Croatia	Ivica Zubac	LA Clippers
Czech Republic	Tomáš Satoranský*	Chicago Bulls
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Bismack Biyombo	Charlotte Hornets
Dominican Republic	Al Horford	Oklahoma City Thunder
Egypt	Abdel Nader	Phoenix Suns
Finland	Lauri Markkanen*	Chicago Bulls
France	Nicolas Batum*	LA Clippers
France	Sekou Doumbouya*	Detroit Pistons
France	Evan Fournier	Orlando Magic
France	Rudy Gobert	Utah Jazz
France	Killian Hayes*	Detroit Pistons
France	Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot	Brooklyn Nets
France	Théo Maledon	Oklahoma City Thunder
France	Frank Ntilikina*	New York Knicks
France	Vincent Poirier	Philadelphia 76ers
Gabon	Chris Silva	Miami Heat
Georgia	Goga Bitadze*	Indiana Pacers
Germany	Isaac Bonga*	Washington Wizards
Germany	Isaiah Hartenstein*	Denver Nuggets
Germany	Maxi Kleber	Dallas Mavericks
Germany	Dennis Schröder	Los Angeles Lakers
Germany	Daniel Theis	Boston Celtics
Germany	Moritz Wagner	Washington Wizards
Greece	Giannis Antetokounmpo	Milwaukee Bucks
Greece	Thanasis Antetokounmpo	Milwaukee Bucks
Israel	Deni Avdija*	Washington Wizards
Italy	Danilo Gallinari*	Atlanta Hawks
Italy	Nicolò Melli	New Orleans Pelicans
Jamaica	Nick Richards	Charlotte Hornets
Japan	Rui Hachimura*	Washington Wizards
Latvia	Davis Bertans	Washington Wizards
Latvia	Anžejs Pasečņiks*	Washington Wizards
Latvia	Kristaps Porziņģis	Dallas Mavericks
Latvia	Rodions Kurucs	Brooklyn Nets
Lithuania	Domantas Sabonis	Indiana Pacers
Lithuania	Deividas Sirvydis*	Detroit Pistons
Lithuania	Jonas Valančiūnas*	Memphis Grizzlies
Montenegro	Nikola Vučević	Orlando Magic
New Zealand	Steven Adams	New Orleans Pelicans
Nigeria	Precious Achiuwa	Miami Heat
Nigeria	Udoka Azubuike	Utah Jazz
Nigeria	Josh Okogie	Minnesota Timberwolves
Republic of the Congo	Serge Ibaka	LA Clippers
Senegal	Gorgui Dieng*	Memphis Grizzlies
Serbia	Nemanja Bjelica	Sacramento Kings
Serbia	Bogdan Bogdanović	Atlanta Hawks
Serbia	Nikola Jokić	Denver Nuggets
Serbia	Boban Marjanović	Dallas Mavericks
Serbia	Aleksej Pokuševski*	Oklahoma City Thunder
Serbia	Alen Smailagić	Golden State Warriors
Slovenia	Vlatko Čančar	Denver Nuggets
Slovenia	Goran Dragić	Miami Heat
Slovenia	Luka Dončić	Dallas Mavericks
South Sudan	Thon Maker*	Cleveland Cavaliers
South Sudan	Wenyen Gabriel	New Orleans Pelicans
Sudan	Bol Bol	Denver Nuggets
Spain	Marc Gasol*	Los Angeles Lakers
Spain	Juancho Hernangómez	Minnesota Timberwolves
Spain	Willy Hernangómez*	New Orleans Pelicans
Spain	Ricky Rubio	Minnesota Timberwolves
St. Lucia	Chris Boucher	Toronto Raptors
Switzerland	Clint Capela	Atlanta Hawks
Turkey	Enes Kanter*	Portland Trail Blazers
Turkey	Furkan Korkmaz	Philadelphia 76ers
Turkey	Cedi Osman	Cleveland Cavaliers
Ukraine	Alex Len	Toronto Raptors
Ukraine	Svi Mykhailiuk	Detroit Pistons
United Kingdom	OG Anunoby	Toronto Raptors

Here's the full list of international two-way players:

Country	Name	Team
Australia	Will Magnay	New Orleans Pelicans
Canada	Nate Darling	Charlotte Hornets
France	Adam Mokoka	Chicago Bulls
France	Killian Tillie	Memphis Grizzlies
Greece	Kostas Antetokounmpo*	Los Angeles Lakers
Guinea	Mamadi Diakite	Milwaukee Bucks
Italy	Nico Mannion	Golden State Warriors
Japan	Yuta Watanabe	Toronto Raptors
Senegal	Tacko Fall	Boston Celtics
Senegal	Karim Mané	Orlando Magic

*Participated in Basketball Without Borders (BWB)

**Not an exhaustive list of every player tie

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