NBA NEWS - NBA rosters feature record 135 international players

A record 71 Europeans, including a record 19 players from France and a record four from the UK, as well as a record-tying 13 from Australia- (NBA Graphic)

Caitlin ClarK broke the WNBA single-season assist record - (John Mac photo) CAITLAN CLARK & ANGEL REESE ROCK WNBA

Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics Larry Bird in Game two of the 1985 NBA Finals at Boston Garden Date 30 May 1985 - Steve Lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN MAGIC JOHNSON & PHAL SAMPHORS

THE CRUCIFIXION of KYRIE IRVING was excessive THE CRUCIFIXION of KYRIE IRVING

Charles Barkley was a member of the 1992 USA Olympic Dream team BUT… he was never a member of an NBA title winning team ALL TIME NBA NEVER WON-NA TITLE TEAM

According to Bob Pettit he has never seen and power forward IN ANY EARA as skilled as the former Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers Elgin Baylor - (Screen shot - photo) Better Than Jordan? ELGIN BAYLOR!!!

From record-tying 43 countries across six continents - A record 71 Europeans, including a record 19 players from France and a record four from the UK, as well as a record-tying 13 from Australia - THIS DAY IN THE NBA

NEW YORK, NY USA

Wednesday October 22, 2025

The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced that a record 135 international players from a record-tying 43 countries across six continents are on opening-night rosters for the 2025-26 season. Among the record 135 international players are a record 71 Europeans, including a record 19 players from France and a record four from the UK, as well as a record-tying 13 from Australia. Opening-night rosters feature at least 120 international players for the fifth consecutive season and at least 100 international players for the 12th straight season. All 30 NBA teams feature at least one international player.

The previous record for international players (125) and the record for countries and territories represented (43) were set at the start of the 2023-24 and 2017-18 seasons, respectively.

The record 71 European players include 2021 NBA champion and two-time Kia NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee Bucks; Greece; ties to Nigeria), 2023 NBA champion and three-time Kia NBA MVP Nikola Jokic (Denver Nuggets; Serbia), five-time NBA All-Star and Kia All-NBA First Team member Luka Doncic (Los Angeles Lakers; Slovenia) and 2023-24 Kia NBA Rookie of the Year and 2025 NBA All-Star Victor Wembanyama (San Antonio Spurs; France; ties to the Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Canada (23 players), headlined by 2025 NBA champion and 2024-25 Kia NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Oklahoma City Thunder), is the most-represented country outside the U.S. for the 12th consecutive season, followed by France, Australia, 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.

There are more than 55 players who were either born in Africa or have at least one parent from Africa, including Antetokounmpo, 2022-23 Kia NBA MVP and seven-time NBA All-Star Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers; Cameroon), 2019 NBA champion and three-time NBA All-Star Pascal Siakam (Indiana Pacers; Cameroon) and Wembanyama.

Below are additional international player milestones and storylines for the upcoming season:

o Four international players have won the last seven Kia NBA MVP Awards: Gilgeous-Alexander (2024-25), Jokic (2023-24, 2021-22 and 2020-21), Embiid (2022-23) and Antetokounmpo (2019-20 and 2018-19). Last season also marked the fourth consecutive season that three international players finished top three in MVP voting: Gilgeous-Alexander (No. 1), Jokic (No. 2) and Antetokounmpo (No. 3).

o There are a record 16 international players on opening-night rosters who have been NBA All-Stars: Antetokounmpo, Doncic, Embiid, Gilgeous-Alexander, Rudy Gobert (Minnesota Timberwolves; France), Al Horford (Golden State Warriors; Dominican Republic), Kyrie Irving (Dallas Mavericks; Australia), Jokic, Lauri Markkanen (Utah Jazz; Finland), Kristaps Porzingis (Hawks; Latvia), Domantas Sabonis (Sacramento Kings; Lithuania), Alperen Sengun (Houston Rockets; Turkey), Siakam, Nikola Vucevic (Chicago Bulls; Montenegro), Wembanyama and Andrew Wiggins (Miami Heat; Canada).

o At least three international players have made the Kia All-NBA Team each season since 2018-19.

o In the 2025-26 NBA GM Survey, Jokic (No. 1), Doncic (No. 2), Gilgeous-Alexander (No. 3) and Wembanyama (No. 4) were voted the players most likely to win the 2025-26 Kia NBA MVP Award (67%, 10%, 8% and 7% of votes, respectively).

o Three international players were voted as the players GMs would most want to sign if they were starting a franchise today: Wembanyama (83% of votes), Gilgeous-Alexander (13% of votes) and Jokic (3% of votes).

o Opening-night rosters feature a record nine NBA Academy program alumni and more than 50 players who participated in Basketball Without Borders.

o There are also several American players with parents from other countries, including Jalen Green (Phoenix Suns; ties to the Philippines), Karl-Anthony Towns (New York Knicks; ties to the Dominican Republic) and Jaylin Williams (Thunder; ties to Vietnam).

October 22, 1957 Sam Jones made his debut for the Boston Celtics at the St. Louis Hawks. The Celtics won 115-90.

October 22, 1958 Elgin Baylor made his debut for the Minneapolis Lakers at home against the Cincinnati Royals. The Lakers won 99-79.

October 22, 1960 Lenny Wilkens made his debut for the St. Louis Hawks at home against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Hawks won 112-96.

October 22, 1976 Robert Parish made his debut for the Golden State Warriors at home against the New York Nets. The Nets won 104-103.

October 22, 1976 Twin brothers Tom and Dick Van Arsdale played together in a game for the Phoenix Suns, becoming the first and only pair of twins to play for the same NBA club. The Suns ended up losing the game 111-98 to the New Orleans Jazz.

October 22, 1999 NBA legend Wilt Chamberlain, who died October 12, 1999 at the age of 63, is the subject of ESPN's SportsCentury series. Chamberlain was selected by a distinguished panel of 48 journalists, historians, observers and administrators as #13 on the list of the greatest North American athletes of the 20th Century. The charismatic Chamberlain played 14 seasons with the Warriors, 76ers and Lakers and dominated the NBA like no other player ever. He holds numerous NBA records, most notably for single-season scoring average (50.4 ppg), single-season minutes (48.5 minutes per game) and highest single-season rebound average (27.3 rpg). On March 2, 1962, Chamberlain did the unthinkable and scored 100 points in a game against the Knicks. For his career, Chamberlain averaged 30.1 points and 22.9 rebounds. Before coming to the NBA, Chamberlain played at the University of Kansas and averaged 29.9 points and 18.3 rebounds for his career.

National Radio text has been published in five languages, Thai, French, Russian, Khmer (Cambodian language) and English, Any of our foreign language material and our Roman Wanderaugh columns are legally available ONLY on our National Radio.com & National Radio World.com sites

Also our sports, entertainment and feature programming has been broadcast on over 1000 radio stations in America.

NationalRadio.com & NationalRadioWorld.com is not about one country, we are about… THE WORLD

© Copyright: National Radio. Any use of these materials, whole or in part, is prohibited unless authorized in writing by National Radio. Contact: nationalradio@yahoo.com All rights reserved.