The number of international players in the NBA reached its peak in the 2014-15 NBA season when 101 players were listed in the line-up for the opening day.
Most of them were from Europe and Latin America.
With the influx of talents from all over the world, is it time for the league to add a team outside of the United States of America?
NFL already has a franchise in London, England and some think it is high time for NBA to expand overseas. Commissioner Adam Silver has a completely different idea though. In fact, he doesn't see a European team joining the league anytime soon.
"My sense is that the NFL is a little bit ahead of us in terms of their timeline for having a franchise based in London," Silver said as per Owen Gibson of the Guardian.
"There are some aspects of their schedule that make it easier-they play once a week, they have fewer games. ... It will be easier logistically for them to pull it off. It would be difficult for us to have one team in Europe. We'd have to put both feet down. That would mean having four franchises in Europe."
While Silver is skeptical about the idea of a European NBA team, he insists the league's only direction is to expand.
"We're not there yet," said the commissioner who inherited the post from David Stern in February 2014.
"I know that as much growth as we've seen, we have a long way to go before we can sustain four franchises in Europe. On the other hand, I believe it's our manifest destiny to expand."
NBA schedule starts from October to July, with the eliminations spanning 82 games. This includes home and away matches. The challenge in having a European team is the logistics and possible fatigue from players.
For this season, the league adjusted its schedule to lessen travel time and back-to-back schedule for teams. Including Europe trips will surely only exhaust players.
