National Basketball Association Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===International influence=== {{Further|List of foreign NBA players}} Following pioneers like [[Vlade Divac]] (Serbia) and [[Dražen Petrović]] (Croatia) who joined the NBA in the late 1980s, an increasing number of international players have moved directly from playing elsewhere in the world to starring in the NBA. Since 2006, the NBA has faced [[EuroLeague]] teams [[NBA vs. EuroLeague games|in exhibition matches]] in the [[NBA Europe Live Tour]], and since 2009, in the [[EuroLeague American Tour]]. The [[2013–14 NBA season|2013–14 season]] opened with a record 92 international players on the opening night rosters, representing 39 countries and comprising over 20 percent of the league.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://nba.nbcsports.com/2013/10/29/record-92-foreign-players-on-nba-rosters-to-start-season/|title=Record 92 foreign players on NBA rosters to start season|first=Kurt|last=Helin|date=October 29, 2013|access-date=December 8, 2016}}</ref> The NBA defines "international" players as those born outside the 50 United States and Washington, D.C. This means that: * Players born in U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and the [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]], most notably USVI native [[Tim Duncan]], are counted as "international" even though they are U.S. citizens by birth, and may even have represented the U.S. in international competition (like Duncan). * U.S.-born players are not counted as "international" even if they were born with citizenship in another country and represent that country internationally, such as [[Joakim Noah]], and [[Kosta Koufos]]. The beginning of the 2017–18 season saw a record 108 international players representing 42 countries marking 4 consecutive years of at least 100 international players and each team having at least one international player.<ref>{{cite press release|title=NBA rosters feature 108 international players from record 42 countries and territories|url=http://www.nba.com/article/2017/10/17/nba-international-players-2017-18-season-record-countries|publisher=National Basketball Association|date=October 17, 2017|access-date=December 31, 2018}}</ref> In 2018, the [[Phoenix Suns]] hired Serbian coach [[Igor Kokoškov]] as their new head coach, replacing Canadian interim coach [[Jay Triano]], making Kokoškov the first European coach to become a head coach for a team in the NBA. In the [[2023–24 NBA season|2023–24 season]], the Mavericks and the Thunder each had eight international players on their roster.<ref name="international expansion">{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38734176/record-125-international-players-nba-opening-night-rosters|title=Record 125 international players on NBA opening-night rosters|date=October 24, 2023|website=ESPN}}</ref> From the 2018 to 2023 season, the [[NBA Most Valuable Player Award|MVP award]] has been given to an international player every year.<ref name="international expansion"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page