How likely is it that in 10 years the NBA will look more like the Premier League in terms of international talent?

[ardee]

We're already at the point where arguably the top 5 players in the league are international players. I also think at this stage Team USA would have a VERY hard time against a Team World.

I don't think anyone could have imagined this 10 years ago.

Yet foreign players are still "only" 27% of the league. It's still fundamentally an American league and basketball is a fundamentally American sport.

In the Premier League (soccer), 66% of players are international with only a bit over one-third being English.

Do you think the NBA will eventually get to that point where basketball becomes a truly international sport?

[rk2023]

I don’t think it’ll get to the levels of a futbol league, but I do think international players could eventually become closer to (say) 40% of the league

[Dutchball97]

The main difference is where the talent comes from imo. England has a lot of talented football players but historically more talent has come from Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, Spain and arguably Portugal and the Netherlands. Meanwhile the US is far and away the dominant force in basketball.

I do believe the percentage of international players will continue to rise as basketball and the NBA become increasingly more global. When I was a kid (say 20 years ago), basketball was something only a handful of really tall people who weren't athletic enough to play football did. Now it's the fastest rising sport in the country and it's directly tied to the NBA becoming more accessible through streaming and social media. Within a generation we're going to see talent reach the NBA from all kinds of difference places around the world that are accelarating their basketball culture at the moment. I'd be very surprised if I ever saw less than 50% of the league being from the US though, especially since international players are more likely to want to be a star in their own country than sit at the end of the bench in the NBA.

[penbeast0]

The main difference is where the talent comes from imo. England has a lot of talented football players but historically more talent has come from Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, Spain and arguably Portugal and the Netherlands. Meanwhile the US is far and away the dominant force in basketball.

I do believe the percentage of international players will continue to rise as basketball and the NBA become increasingly more global. When I was a kid (say 20 years ago), basketball was something only a handful of really tall people who weren't athletic enough to play football did. Now it's the fastest rising sport in the country and it's directly tied to the NBA becoming more accessible through streaming and social media. Within a generation we're going to see talent reach the NBA from all kinds of difference places around the world that are accelarating their basketball culture at the moment. I'd be very surprised if I ever saw less than 50% of the league being from the US though, especially since international players are more likely to want to be a star in their own country than sit at the end of the bench in the NBA.

20 years ago? Where did you grow up? When I was a teenager 50 years ago (so, 1973) in the Washington suburbs, everyone played basketball, football, and baseball. The tall athletic kids preferred basketball generally because it was less violent while the bulky athletic kids preferred football (unless you could be QB1). Baseball was well back among team sports in 3rd place, with soccer more popular among little kids but falling off when you got to middle and high school.

[Dutchball97]

The main difference is where the talent comes from imo. England has a lot of talented football players but historically more talent has come from Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, Spain and arguably Portugal and the Netherlands. Meanwhile the US is far and away the dominant force in basketball.

I do believe the percentage of international players will continue to rise as basketball and the NBA become increasingly more global. When I was a kid (say 20 years ago), basketball was something only a handful of really tall people who weren't athletic enough to play football did. Now it's the fastest rising sport in the country and it's directly tied to the NBA becoming more accessible through streaming and social media. Within a generation we're going to see talent reach the NBA from all kinds of difference places around the world that are accelarating their basketball culture at the moment. I'd be very surprised if I ever saw less than 50% of the league being from the US though, especially since international players are more likely to want to be a star in their own country than sit at the end of the bench in the NBA.

20 years ago? Where did you grow up? When I was a teenager 50 years ago (so, 1973) in the Washington suburbs, everyone played basketball, football, and baseball. The tall athletic kids preferred basketball generally because it was less violent while the bulky athletic kids preferred football (unless you could be QB1). Baseball was well back among team sports in 3rd place, with soccer more popular among little kids but falling off when you got to middle and high school.

Well yeah but I'm Dutch. When I say football, it's soccer.

[penbeast0]

The main difference is where the talent comes from imo. England has a lot of talented football players but historically more talent has come from Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, Spain and arguably Portugal and the Netherlands. Meanwhile the US is far and away the dominant force in basketball.

I do believe the percentage of international players will continue to rise as basketball and the NBA become increasingly more global. When I was a kid (say 20 years ago), basketball was something only a handful of really tall people who weren't athletic enough to play football did. Now it's the fastest rising sport in the country and it's directly tied to the NBA becoming more accessible through streaming and social media. Within a generation we're going to see talent reach the NBA from all kinds of difference places around the world that are accelarating their basketball culture at the moment. I'd be very surprised if I ever saw less than 50% of the league being from the US though, especially since international players are more likely to want to be a star in their own country than sit at the end of the bench in the NBA.

20 years ago? Where did you grow up? When I was a teenager 50 years ago (so, 1973) in the Washington suburbs, everyone played basketball, football, and baseball. The tall athletic kids preferred basketball generally because it was less violent while the bulky athletic kids preferred football (unless you could be QB1). Baseball was well back among team sports in 3rd place, with soccer more popular among little kids but falling off when you got to middle and high school.

Well yeah but I'm Dutch. When I say football, it's soccer.

Fair enough; I tend to use the spelling futbol in that case just to avoid confusing the Americans (I'm American too but I grew up in Europe early on). Played almost completely soccer (when we played team sports which wasn't that often, more cycling and war games) until about age 9 then moved to Washington DC suburbs where the situation was more fluid.

[Special_Puppy]

Totally possible that the % of players that are international goes above 30%+ in 10 years, but the idea that they will be a clear majority is very unlikely

[MacGill]

We're already at the point where arguably the top 5 players in the league are international players. I also think at this stage Team USA would have a VERY hard time against a Team World.

I don't think anyone could have imagined this 10 years ago.

Yet foreign players are still "only" 27% of the league. It's still fundamentally an American league and basketball is a fundamentally American sport.

In the Premier League (soccer), 66% of players are international with only a bit over one-third being English.

Do you think the NBA will eventually get to that point where basketball becomes a truly international sport?

No, I don't think that will happen but I do feel we're at the correct international proportion level. I think this keeps things quite interesting and good for the competitive balance and nature of the sport. And like certain draft years, there will be highs and lows in each decade but nothing to worry about. I think it places more of a 'let's re-evaluate our programs and scouting plans' with the US crop as while social media makes access to information easier, it also makes players work ethic's or mindset softer in my opinion. Over seas culture is strong, and while talent in basketball is overall less, you only need 400 of the best in the world to make it. In today's world, that can come from anywhere and no one should be surprised about that.

[Doctor MJ]

We're already at the point where arguably the top 5 players in the league are international players. I also think at this stage Team USA would have a VERY hard time against a Team World.

I don't think anyone could have imagined this 10 years ago.

Yet foreign players are still "only" 27% of the league. It's still fundamentally an American league and basketball is a fundamentally American sport.

In the Premier League (soccer), 66% of players are international with only a bit over one-third being English.

Do you think the NBA will eventually get to that point where basketball becomes a truly international sport?

I think the NBA is going to keep getting more international until a serious threat emerges elsewhere in the world.

I think it's hard to match the Premier league by this metric because the USA is still by far the best source of basketball talent in the world, and frankly it's hard to identify when England could have made such a claim. It's a bit like asking when another nation can have cuisine as international as England when not even the English like English food.

[eminence]

Seems unlikely to go quite that far simply due to the US having 5x the UKs population, I could see something in the 50/50 range as the mid term peak.

[yannisk]

We're already at the point where arguably the top 5 players in the league are international players. I also think at this stage Team USA would have a VERY hard time against a Team World.

I don't think anyone could have imagined this 10 years ago.

Yet foreign players are still "only" 27% of the league. It's still fundamentally an American league and basketball is a fundamentally American sport.

In the Premier League (soccer), 66% of players are international with only a bit over one-third being English.

Do you think the NBA will eventually get to that point where basketball becomes a truly international sport?

The difference is English players were never the best (I don't know maybe they were when they invented the sport and nobody else was playing). Soccer is by far the more popular game in the world, premier league is one of the top leagues, but still they compete with other top leagues for talent. NBA is the unquestionable top league with a huge difference in player salaries so all the best talent converges there but it will take a lot of time (if ever) for the majority of the top 400 players to be international