Why is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander considered an “international” player?

[GSP]

When Shai and Canada beat USA in the Olympics maybe then the OP will realize that Shai is a foreign player.

Not Olympics but they beat us for bronze in Fiba last year and Sga was better than any of the players we had there by far including Ant

Watch on YouTube

[ForeverTFC]

First of all, Shai only did his last 2 years of high school in Tennessee. Second, Steve Nash is an international player, he is Canadian.

What point are you trying to make exactly?

[Black Jack]

The real question is why the NBA, having had a team in Canada for almost 30 years now, still considers the league to be an "American" one? And classifies Canadians with Europeans and South Americans as international players?

Most of Canada lives in Toronto which is basically right next to Buffalo NY. It's silly to pretend there's much difference anyway. It's just an imaginary line.

What ? Toronto Metro is 6.6 mil, while whole Canada is 39 mil. I'm outraged by your ignorant statement and I'm not even a Canadian

Fine I was wrong. But still, "just over 60 percent of Canadians live in just two provinces: Ontario and Quebec."

Basically they mostly live right next to the US. calling it "foreign" is stretching it. It's just an imaginary line.

[disoblige]

Most of Canada lives in Toronto which is basically right next to Buffalo NY. It's silly to pretend there's much difference anyway. It's just an imaginary line.

What ? Toronto Metro is 6.6 mil, while whole Canada is 39 mil. I'm outraged by your ignorant statement and I'm not even a Canadian

Fine I was wrong. But still, "just over 60 percent of Canadians live in just two provinces: Ontario and Quebec."

Basically they mostly live right next to the US. calling it "foreign" is stretching it. It's just an imaginary line.

It's not an imaginary line. It's a country's border. Like's your house's border from your neighbor.

US lives next to Mexico. Do you consider people living there foreign?

[Nuntius]

The real question is why the NBA, having had a team in Canada for almost 30 years now, still considers the league to be an "American" one? And classifies Canadians with Europeans and South Americans as international players?

Most of Canada lives in Toronto which is basically right next to Buffalo NY. It's silly to pretend there's much difference anyway. It's just an imaginary line.

What ? Toronto Metro is 6.6 mil, while whole Canada is 39 mil. I'm outraged by your ignorant statement and I'm not even a Canadian

His statement isn't even accurate for Ontario, the province in which the Toronto Metro is located.

[RiRuHoops]

Most of Canada lives in Toronto which is basically right next to Buffalo NY. It's silly to pretend there's much difference anyway. It's just an imaginary line.

What ? Toronto Metro is 6.6 mil, while whole Canada is 39 mil. I'm outraged by your ignorant statement and I'm not even a Canadian

Fine I was wrong. But still, "just over 60 percent of Canadians live in just two provinces: Ontario and Quebec."

Basically they mostly live right next to the US. calling it "foreign" is stretching it. It's just an imaginary line.

Quebec is French speaking majorly. Does it sound like USA to you? Doesn't get any more foreign than that to me.
I mean you drive thru "imaginary line", see the speed limit sign say 100. you eagerly step on your gas, a cop pulls you over, gives you a speeding ticket and welcomes you to Canada.

[picko]

The only reason that calling SGA a foreign player is weird is because Canada has a team in the NBA.

[wegotthabeet]

should canada just merge with the US?

We have different laws and way of life.

Watch on YouTube

I remember this add from the 90s

[durden_tyler]

Americans just want to own (or invade) everything. LOL.

[SomeBunghole]

Where do you get this that NBA think of themselves as American. I'm pretty sure they display 2 flags up under the ceiling in all NBA arenas (US and CAN)

I mean, the official website of the NBA talks about international players before the start of every season and Canadians are included as international players. This is far from the only example.

https://www.nba.com/news/nba-international-players-2023-24

[CarMalone]

Isn't he Taiwanese? Taiwan isn't really part of China.

Please don't bring this up to Chinese folks. The majority think they own Taiwan. You may enrage certain people. If this opinion gains traction, their government will invade it.

Not to derail but mainland China is the People's Republic of China while Taiwan is the Republic of China. Both governments claim to be the legitimate government of all of China. Taiwan's official capital is Nanjing on the mainland. Taiwan's constitution states "We are China" and it held China's seat in the UN, represented China at the Olympics, and was recognized as the real China by the US until the 1970's.

[disoblige]

Isn't he Taiwanese? Taiwan isn't really part of China.

Please don't bring this up to Chinese folks. The majority think they own Taiwan. You may enrage certain people. If this opinion gains traction, their government will invade it.

Not to derail but mainland China is the People's Republic of China while Taiwan is the Republic of China. Both governments claim to be the legitimate government of all of China. Taiwan's official capital is Nanjing on the mainland. Taiwan's constitution states "We are China" and it held China's seat in the UN, represented China at the Olympics, and was recognized as the real China by the US until the 1970's.

It’s like Russia and Ukraine. Russia thinks Ukraine belongs to them and other opinion doesn’t matter to them. This applies to China. They don’t give a ****. Will invade it to prove their point.

[bushybrah_]

Because he plays for Canada? I've always seen Nash as international because he played for Canada. Ewing and Duncan are seen as American because they played for USA. I go off their national team representation.

That…doesn’t make any sense. There’s a lot of players that could play for the country they were born in, and there’s players who play for the country their parents were born in. Or some that just have citizenship for said country.

Playing for country = automatically means international?

[Lalouie]

in today's world every participant in life get's his or her own defining wokey space

[CarMalone]

Please don't bring this up to Chinese folks. The majority think they own Taiwan. You may enrage certain people. If this opinion gains traction, their government will invade it.

Not to derail but mainland China is the People's Republic of China while Taiwan is the Republic of China. Both governments claim to be the legitimate government of all of China. Taiwan's official capital is Nanjing on the mainland. Taiwan's constitution states "We are China" and it held China's seat in the UN, represented China at the Olympics, and was recognized as the real China by the US until the 1970's.

It’s like Russia and Ukraine. Russia thinks Ukraine belongs to them and other opinion doesn’t matter to them. This applies to China. They don’t give a ****. Will invade it to prove their point.

Ukraine is recognized by the international community as a sovereign country and has a seat in the UN. Taiwan is only recognized by a handful of Caribbean countries and claims to be the true China. The US does not even recognize Taiwan and adheres to the “one China policy”. Not similar at all. Up until the 1970’s, Taiwan was planning to invade mainland China and the US was willing to support such an invasion to restore the KMT as the legitimate government of China.

[greekman]

sga went to high school in canada. he switched high schools just before finishing in order to play 'better competition'. he played murray, wiggins, and brooks in competition in canada.

[disoblige]

Not to derail but mainland China is the People's Republic of China while Taiwan is the Republic of China. Both governments claim to be the legitimate government of all of China. Taiwan's official capital is Nanjing on the mainland. Taiwan's constitution states "We are China" and it held China's seat in the UN, represented China at the Olympics, and was recognized as the real China by the US until the 1970's.

It’s like Russia and Ukraine. Russia thinks Ukraine belongs to them and other opinion doesn’t matter to them. This applies to China. They don’t give a ****. Will invade it to prove their point.

Ukraine is recognized by the international community as a sovereign country and has a seat in the UN. Taiwan is only recognized by a handful of Caribbean countries and claims to be the true China. The US does not even recognize Taiwan and adheres to the “one China policy”. Not similar at all. Up until the 1970’s, Taiwan was planning to invade mainland China and the US was willing to support such an invasion to restore the KMT as the legitimate government of China.

Like I said Russia/China don’t care. Read Putins essay. Convince these leaders not me or us.
http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

[srhcan]

Shai was born in Canada, went to high school in Tennessee and played college ball at Kentucky. How this any different than Patrick Ewing, who was born in Jamaica, went to high school in Massachusetts and played college ball at Georgetown? Why isn’t Ewing considered an international player?

Why aren’t Steve Nash and Tim Duncan considered international players? Nash was born in South Africa and raised in Canada. Duncan was born and raised in the Virgin Islands. Shouldn’t they be apart of the so-called “international takeover” that I keep hearing about?

Seems like most people don’t consider them foreign since played in the NCAA. Yet Embiid, Sabonis, and Shai all played in the NCAA and are all considered foreign players.

I’ve even seen people call Karl Towns an international player because his mom is Dominican, even though he was was born and raised in New Jersey. So should Kareem be considered an international player since his parents are from Trinidad?

We might as well call Shaq an international player since his stepdad is Jamaican.

It seems like the definition of “international” has been changed to inflate the dominance of foreign players on today’s league. Jokic, Luka, and Giannis are the only purely foreign superstars in the league right now.

Any player who was brought up in US school & college system, should not be considered an international player. So I dont consider Shai an international player.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

The real question is why Embiid is considered an international player

[DreamTeam09]

Most of Canada lives in Toronto which is basically right next to Buffalo NY. It's silly to pretend there's much difference anyway. It's just an imaginary line.

What ? Toronto Metro is 6.6 mil, while whole Canada is 39 mil. I'm outraged by your ignorant statement and I'm not even a Canadian

Fine I was wrong. But still, "just over 60 percent of Canadians live in just two provinces: Ontario and Quebec."

Basically they mostly live right next to the US. calling it "foreign" is stretching it. It's just an imaginary line.

lol lol brother, Quebec is the one place on this side of hemisphere that's closest to Europe or "foreign" I agree tho, it is all just an imaginary line.