List of NBA players born outside the United States
The following is a list of foreign players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The list includes players both past and present. This list does not include players from the United States. Note that the "United States" is defined as solely the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The NBA considers all players from outside that area "international," even if they are from U.S. territories such as Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
- Active players in the NBA are in bold.
- For all NBA players, see List of National Basketball Association players.
- For currently active NBA players, see List of current NBA players.
- Carlos Delfino
- Manu Ginóbili
- Wálter Herrmann
- Andrés Nocioni
- Fabricio Oberto
- Pepe Sánchez
- Luis Scola
- Rubén Wolkowyski
- David Andersen (born in Australia, also holds Danish citizenship, represents Australia internationally)
- Chris Anstey
- Andrew Bogut
- Mark Bradtke
- Andrew Gaze
- Shane Heal
- Nathan Jawai
- Luc Longley
- Patrick Mills
- Luke Schenscher
- Leroy Loggins (dual citizen of Australia and USA, represented Australia internationally)
- Lanard Copeland
- Darnell Mee (dual citizen of Australia and USA, represented Australia internationally)
- Rick Fox (dual citizen of The Bahamas and Canada; represented Canada internationally)
- Mychal Thompson
- Ian Lockhart
- Dexter Cambridge
- Milt Palacio (born in the US, represents Belize internationally)
- Aleksandar Radojević
- Ratko Varda
- J.R. Bremer (born in USA, became naturalized Bosnian citizen)
- Rafael Araújo
- Leandro Barbosa
- Rolando Ferreira
- Alex Garcia
- Nenê
- Anderson Varejão
- João Vianna
- Marcus Vinicius
- Joel Anthony
- Norm Baker
- Hank Biasatti (born in Italy, but a Canadian citizen)
- Denham Brown
- Ron Crevier
- Bobby Croft
- Samuel Dalembert (born in Haiti, naturalized in Canada, represents Canada internationally)
- Rick Fox (dual citizen of The Bahamas and Canada; represented Canada internationally)
- Stewart Granger
- Lars Hansen (born in Denmark, naturalized in Canada, represented Canada internationally)
- Bob Houbregs
- Todd MacCulloch
- Jamaal Magloire
- Steve Nash (born in South Africa, naturalized in Canada, represents Canada internationally)
- Leo Rautins
- Mike Smrek
- Gino Sovran
- Ernie Vandeweghe
- Bill Wennington
- Jim Zoet
- Mengke Bateer
- Tom Meschery (born in then Manchuria, ethnic Russian, eventually a naturalized U.S. citizen)
- Sun Yue
- Wang Zhizhi
- Yao Ming
- Yi Jianlian
- Dalibor Bagarić
- Gordan Giriček
- Mario Kasun
- Toni Kukoč
- Damir Markota (born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, naturalized in both Croatia and Sweden, represents Croatia internationally)
- Dražen Petrović
- Zoran Planinić
- Dino Radja
- Bruno Sundov
- Goran Suton (born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, naturalized Croatian)
- Žan Tabak
- Stojko Vranković
- Roko Ukić
- Didier Ilunga Mbenga (naturalized Belgian)
- Dikembe Mutombo
- David Andersen (born in Australia, also holds Danish citizenship, represents Australia internationally)
- Lars Hansen (born in Denmark, represented Canada internationally)
- Trevor Ariza (born in the US, Dominican descent)
- Luis Flores
- Francisco García
- Al Horford
- Tito Horford
- Felipe López
- Sammy Mejia
- Charlie Villanueva (born in the US, represents Dominican Republic internationally)
- Alaa Abdelnaby (naturalized U.S. citizen)
- Tariq Abdul-Wahad (born Olivier Saint-Jean)
- Alexis Ajinça
- Nicolas Batum
- Howard Carter (born in USA, represented to France)
- Boris Diaw
- Yakhouba Diawara
- Mickaël Gelabale
- Ian Mahinmi
- Cozell McQueen
- Jérôme Moïso
- Tony Parker (born in Belgium)
- Johan Petro
- Mickaël Piétrus
- Antoine Rigaudeau
- Michael Stewart
- Ronny Turiaf
- Dominique Wilkins (born in France while his father was stationed there with the U.S. Air Force)
Note: Even though Joakim Noah has a French passport, he is not considered an "international" player by the NBA because he was born in New York City (he also attended high school and college in the USA). Under FIBA rules, Noah can qualify for any of four national teams—the USA by birth, France through his father, Sweden through his mother, and Cameroon through his paternal grandfather. He has recently elected to join the French national basketball team.
- Zaza Pachulia (dual citizen of Georgia and Turkey; represents Georgia internationally)
- Melvin Sanders (born in USA, naturalized Georgian)
- Vladimir Stepania
- Iakovos "Jake" Tsakalidis (born in Georgia and raised in Greece; dual citizen of both countries, but represents Greece internationally)
- Nikoloz Tskitishvili
- Shammond Williams (born in US, represented Georgia internationally)
- Uwe Blab
- Shawn Bradley (born with dual Germany-U.S. citizenship; represented Germany internationally)
- John Brown
- Kent Edelin
- Jo Jo English
- Frido Frey
- Chris Kaman (born in the US, represents Germany internationally)
- Dirk Nowitzki
- Detlef Schrempf
- Kiki Vandeweghe (born with dual Germany-U.S. citizenship)
- Duane Washington
- Christian Welp
- Efthimios Rentzias
- Vasileios Spanoulis
- Antonios Fotsis
- Andreas Glyniadakis
- Kosta Koufos (born in U.S.; born with dual Greek-U.S. citizenship; represented Greece internationally)
- Kurt Rambis (born in U.S.; born with dual Greek-U.S. citizenship; represented Greece internationally)
- Jake Tsakalidis (born in Georgia; raised in Greece; Greek decents; represented Greece internationally)
- Lou Tsioropoulos (born in U.S.; Greek decents)
- Samuel Dalembert (raised in Canada and naturalized in that country)
- Yvon Joseph
- Olden Polynice (raised in the United States)
- Pat Burke
- Marty Conlon (born and raised in the U.S., represented Ireland internationally)
- Andrea Bargnani
- Marco Belinelli
- Mike D'Antoni (born and raised in the U.S., represented Italy internationally)
- Vinny Del Negro (born and raised in the U.S., naturalized in Italy)
- Vincenzo Esposito
- Danilo Gallinari
- Stefano Rusconi
Note: Although not considered by the league an international player, Patrick Ewing was born in Jamaica.
- J. R. Henderson (American who naturalized in Japan, changing his name to J. R. Sakuragi)
- Yuta Tabuse
- Rony Seikaly (born with dual Lebanon-U.S. citizenship; raised in Greece; represented the U.S. internationally)
- Steve Kerr (born with dual Lebanon-U.S. citizenship; represented the U.S. internationally)
- Matt Freije (born in the US, represents Lebanon internationally)
- Jackson Vroman (born in the US, represents Lebanon internationally)
- Martynas Andriuškevičius
- Žydrūnas Ilgauskas
- Šarūnas Jasikevičius
- Linas Kleiza
- Arvydas Macijauskas
- Šarūnas Marčiulionis
- Arvydas Sabonis
- Darius Songaila
- Mirsad Hott (Canadian citizen naturalised in Macedonia; represents Macedonia internationally; played for the West Kildonan Collegiate Wolverines)
- Darius Washington (U.S. citizen naturalized in Macedonia; represents Macedonia internationally)
- Žarko Čabarkapa (also a Serbian citizen, represented Montenegro internationally)
- Omar Cook (born in US, represents Montenegro internationally)
- Predrag Drobnjak
- Predrag Savović
- Slavko Vraneš (also a Serbian citizen, represents Montenegro internationally)
- Mike Flynn (U.S. citizen, grew up in Jeffersonville, Indiana)
- Hank Beenders
- Francisco Elson
- Dan Gadzuric
- Geert Hammink
- Swen Nater
- Henk Norel
- Rik Smits
- Serge Zwikker
- Peter Aluma
- Kelenna Azubuike (born in UK, raised in US)
- Yinka Dare
- Ike Diogu (born in US, Nigerian descents)
- Obinna Ekezie
- Julius Nwosu
- Emeka Okafor (born in the US)
- Hakeem Olajuwon (naturalized U.S. citizen; represented the U.S. internationally)
- Michael Olowokandi (raised in England)
- Olumide Oyedeji
- Ime Udoka (born in the US)
- Rolando Blackman (naturalized U.S. citizen; represented the U.S. internationally)
- Lorenzo Charles (born in the U.S., represented Panama internationally)
- Ruben Garces
- Stuart Gray
- Rick Apodaca
- Carlos Arroyo
- Elias Larry Ayuso
- José Juan Barea
- Guillermo Diaz
- Butch Lee
- Jose "Piculin" Ortiz
- Peter John Ramos
- Renaldo Balkman
- Dahntay Jones
- Ramon Rivas
- Daniel Santiago
- Ernie Grunfeld (raised in Queens, naturalized in the U.S., and represented the U.S. internationally)
- Gheorghe Mureşan
- Sergei Bazarevich
- Travis Hansen (born in US, represents Russia internationally)
- Viktor Khryapa
- Andrei Kirilenko
- Yaroslav Korolev
- Sergei Monia
- Pavel Podkolzin
- Adonal Foyle (naturalized U.S. citizen)
- Miloš Babić
- Žarko Čabarkapa (also a Montenergin citizen, represented Montenegro internationally)
- Radisav Čurčić
- Rastko Cvetković
- Predrag Danilović
- Vlade Divac
- Aleksandar "Sasha" Djordjević
- Mile Ilić
- Marko Jarić (also a Greek citizen, represented Serbia internationally)
- Nenad Krstić
- Darko Miličić
- Žarko Paspalj
- Aleksandar "Sasha" Pavlović (born in Montenegro)
- Kosta Perović
- Vladimir Radmanović
- Igor Rakočević
- Željko Rebrača
- Predrag "Peja" Stojaković (also a Greek citizen, represented Serbia internationally)
- Dragan Tarlać (also a Greek citizen, represented Serbia internationally)
- Primož Brezec
- Goran Dragić
- Marko Milič
- Boštjan Nachbar
- Radoslav Nesterović
- Beno Udrih
- Uros Slokar
- Aleksandar "Sasha" Vujačić
- Steve Nash (born in South Africa, but raised in and naturalized in Canada, and represented Canada internationally)
- José Calderón
- Rudy Fernández
- Jorge Garbajosa
- Marc Gasol
- Pau Gasol
- Raúl López
- Fernando Martín
- Juan Carlos Navarro
- Sergio Rodríguez
- Wally Szczerbiak (born in Spain, U.S. citizen)
- Manute Bol
- Luol Deng (born in Sudan, naturalized in the United Kingdom; represents the UK in FIBA competitions and England in the Commonwealth Games)
- Deng Gai
- Jonas Jerebko
- Damir Markota (born in what is now Bosnia and Herzegovina, naturalized in both Croatia and Sweden, represents Croatia internationally)
- Miles Simon (born in Sweden with dual U.S.-Swedish citizenship)
- Ken Charles
- Carl Herrera (born in Trinidad and Tobago, represented Venezuela internationally)
- John Amaechi (born in USA, raised in England)
- Robert Archibald (Scotland)
- Kelenna Azubuike (born in England, raised in USA)
- Steve Bucknall (England)
- Luol Deng (born in Sudan, raised in England)
- James Donaldson
- Ndudi Ebi (England)
- Ben Gordon (born in England, raised in USA)
- Chris Harris
- Pops Mensah-Bonsu (England)
- Michael Olowokandi (born in Nigeria, raised in England)
- Raja Bell
- Tim Duncan (represents the U.S. internationally)
- Charles Claxton
- David Vanterpool (born in Usa, represented Virgin Islands internationally)
- Carl Herrera (born in Trinidad and Tobago, represented Venezuela internationally)
- Óscar Torres
Statistics
Recently, the National Basketball Association has been trying to promote its game internationally. As more and more international players are making the NBA rosters, the league is getting more attention outside of the U.S. The amount of European players has doubled in the league, just in the past 5 years.
| 2000-2001 Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Percent | Country | Number of Players | |
| 89.9 | 
|
USA | 391 |
| 1.0 | 
|
Serbia and Montenegro | 4 |
| 1.0 | 
|
Croatia | 4 |
| 1.0 | 
|
Nigeria | 4 |
| Percent | Region | Number of Players | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.0 | Europe | 26 | |
| 1.6 | Africa | 7 | |
| 2005-2006 Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Percent | Country | Number of Players | |
| 81.1 |
|
USA | 344 |
| 1.9 |
|
Serbia and Montenegro | 8 |
| 1.4 | 
|
Slovenia | 6 |
| 1.4 | 
|
Lithuania | 6 |
| 1.2 | 
|
France | 5 |
| Percent | Region | Number of Players | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12.3 | Europe | 52 | |
| 2.1 | South America | 9 | |
| 1.6 | Africa | 7 | |
| 1.2 | Caribbean | 5 | |
- The team that had the most non-American players for the season are the San Antonio Spurs (7) 2000-2001 Roster
- The team that had the most overseas born players for the season are the Toronto Raptors.