Basketball is a global game. It is the third-most popular sport in the world behind soccer and cricket. The NBA has made no secret over the years of growing the game internationally and courting foreign sources of cash. In a straw poll of 15 people conducted by ESPN consisting of league scouts, coaches, and executives, they believe that in five years four of the league’s top 5 players will be international.
I am not an American exceptionalist, so it doesn’t bother me that the game is producing international superstars. There is talent all over the world. If the NBA is the best basketball league, then it should have the best players from everywhere.
Top 10 NBA Players Will Have An International Feel
According to the straw poll, the top five players in 2028 will be: Luka Doncic (Slovenia), Anthony Edwards (USA), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Victor Wembanyama (France), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada).
In many ways that tracks. A look at last season’s top five players in EPM show two international superstars in Jokic and Joel Embiid (Cameroon). Four of the top-10 in EPM are international. If you look at the age of the American-born players in the top-10 last season, there is nobody under the age of 32.
That suggests an American star contingent that is aging out. What about the group below? The next 10?
The United States Still Has The Most Depth
In that group the U.S. looks strong with eight players. Five of the eight are 26 and younger, led by Jayson Tatum (25) and elite 23-year-olds in Tyrese Haliburton and Jaren Jackson Jr.
So all is not lost. But the days where the best basketball player in the world was guaranteed to be American are long gone. The last three MVPs have been international players.
Where the U.S. will still dominate is in its depth. This is a nation of just under 340 million people, so while the best player may be from somewhere else. The rest will be populated by a majority of American players.
What’s exciting about the prevalence of international superstars is how competitive summer basketball tournaments will be. The Olympics and FIBA World Cup.
Team USA will be the favorites in every major tournament, but they won’t be the overwhelming favorites. Anything short of the best 12 American players isn’t guaranteed a medal and that’s exciting.
In Paris 2024, assuming health for our old superstars like LeBron, KD, Steph, Dame, Jimmy, Kawhi, etc., it still won’t be a cakewalk.
Doncic and Slovenia, Jokic and Serbia, Australia, Canada, will all be tough outs in single elimination.
Also imagine a French national team that could throw out a frontcourt lineup of Embiid (French nationality) Wemby, and Rudy Gobert. That would be a tough lineup to score inside against or grab offensive boards against.
Breathe easy America, we’re still elite at basketball. But that gap at the top has narrowed.
