USA vs. international basketball: Is the gap closing or opening up?

For decades, the United Statesdominated on the hardwood. Now, that’s changing.

Today, the U.S. still producessome of the best players in the world and certainly has the deepesttalent pool, but other countries have closed the gapconsiderably. Internationalsuperstars have taken the league by storm.

With the success of players likeGiannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), Joel Embiid(Cameroon), Luka Dončić (Slovenia) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander(Canada), it's no surprise that people are high on internationalplayers.

Antetokounmpo, Jokic and Embiidhave combined for the last five Most Valuable Player awards, andfour of the last six Defensive Player of the Year awards have goneto foreign players (Giannis and Rudy Gobert). Antetokounmpo and theMilwaukee Bucks won the 2021 NBA championship, and now Jokic andthe Denver Nuggets are the reigning champs.

Whether it’s the FIBA BasketballWorld Cup or in the NBA, international players are often beatingtheir United States counterparts.

Americans have been outshined asof late, but the U.S. continues to produce some of the very bestplayers in the world. Veteran superstars like LeBron James, StephenCurry, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George andKyrie Irving continue to excel, while younger studs like JaysonTatum, Devin Booker, Ja Morant, Donovan Mitchell, Zion Williamson,LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton, Anthony Edwards, are stillrealizing their full potential and could challenge the influx ofinternational competition. However, Victor Wembanyama (France)enters the 2023-24 season as the most highly anticipated rookiesince LeBron James.

Now, let's take a look at thenumbers. A year ago, Basketball News’ Alex Kennedy talked with TroyJustice, the NBA’s vicepresident, head of international basketball development about theinternational takeover on basketball’s biggest stages.

“Thirty years ago, there wereonly 23 international players. Now, we have 121. And to be realhonest, I think we're only scratching the surface in terms of notonly talent identification but just the development of the gameglobally,” Justice said. “So, it's amazing.”

Of the 537 active NBA players,128 are from outside the United States (just under 25%).International players received 88% of the votes in the 2022-23 MVPrace, with Embiid, Jokic and Antetokounmpo garnering 84% combined.Of the top-eight vote-getters, only Tatum and Mitchell wereAmerican.

And that’s not just a one-off.You have to go back to the 2020-21 NBA season to find an Americanplayer in the top-three of MVP voting, which was Curry at third(closely followed by Giannis). The last American player to win theMVP award was James Harden in 2017-18. Interestingly, there were nointernational players in the top-five of MVP voting that year,although Antetokounmpo barely missed out.

Also, following that season, theLarry O’Brien trophy has been very much up for grabs. Previously,the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors were theperennial NBA Finals matchup and no other teams really came close.LeBron and Steph were the NBA’s poster boys, competing for a ringevery year. We hadn’t seen an international superstar lead his teamto a title since Dirk Nowitzki defeated LeBron, Dwyane Wade andChris Bosh in 2011.

There are many reasons for thischampionship diversity –with five different winnersin the past five years – but abig factor is the emergence of these international juggernauts likeJokic and Antetokounmpo. However, it’s worth noting that teams withAmerican superstars won three-out-of-five of these championships,led by Kawhi, LeBron and Steph, respectively.

The NBA landscape is volatileand this season will be telling. Will an international player winthe MVP award for a sixth-straight time? Which team will bestanding after the smoke clears at the end? Can Jokic and theNuggets repeat? Will Giannis and Dame bring another title toMilwaukee? Or will one of the other contenders win itall?

American players are no doubtstill some of the best in the sport and are well ahead in terms ofnumbers. But, particularly at the top, international players havefully closed the gap and have begun building their owndisparity.

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