(Reuters) -A record 135 players born outside the United States are on opening-night rosters, the NBA said on Tuesday, with 43 countries represented across six continents. The 2025-26 NBA season tips off on Tuesday, marking the 12th consecutive year opening-night rosters have had at least 100 international players in the U.S.-based league. The previous record […]
Sports
NBA-Record 135 international players on opening-night rosters
Audio By Carbonatix
(Reuters) -A record 135 players born outside the United States are on opening-night rosters, the NBA said on Tuesday, with 43 countries represented across six continents.
The 2025-26 NBA season tips off on Tuesday, marking the 12th consecutive year opening-night rosters have had at least 100 international players in the U.S.-based league.
The previous record for international players was 125 at the start of the 2023-24 season.
For a 12th consecutive season, Canada is the most-represented country outside the U.S. with 23 players, a group headlined by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA title in June.
France have 19 players, followed by Australia (13), Germany (7) and Serbia (6).
The Atlanta Hawks feature a record-tying 10 international players, followed by the Portland Trail Blazers and Golden State Warriors with seven apiece.
The NBA said there were a record 71 European players on opening-night rosters, a group that includes Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Luka Doncic (Slovenia) and Victor Wembanyama (France).
The NBA is staging three games outside of the United States and Canada this season as part of the league’s push to grow the game globally.
Dallas and Detroit will meet in Mexico City on November 1 for the 34th NBA game played in Mexico, the most of any country outside the U.S. and Canada, before January games in Berlin and London featuring Memphis and Orlando.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Ken Ferris and Ed Osmond)