125 international players in opening night teams is a joint record

The NBA announced on Tuesday that a record 125 foreign players will be part of the 2024–25 rosters, with at least one player from outside the US on each of the 30 clubs.

With play starting later on Tuesday, the NBA announced that at least 120 international players will be featured among teams for the start of the season for the fourth consecutive year.

Players from a record-tying 43 nations at the beginning of this NBA season, up from 40 a year ago, demonstrate the top-tier league’s growing international skill pool, which was on full show at this year’s Olympics in Paris.

With 21 players, Canada is the most represented nation outside of the United States, followed by France, Australia, Germany, and Serbia. Canada also has one franchise in the league, the Toronto Raptors.

Among the 61 European players are the Slovenian Luka Doncic, a five-time All-Star for the Dallas Mavericks, the Serbian Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, and Giannis Antetokounmpo of Greece, the two-time MVP of the Milwaukee Bucks.

The Philadelphia 76ers’ seven-time All-Star Joel Embiid is one of the record five Cameroonian players on the squads, which also include a joint-record 17 African players.