The many flags of basketball

Last night, the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets faced off in an NBA game in Mexico City. If you can remember as far back as last season, the Wolves were slated to play a game in Mexico City against the Spurs, but smoke inside Mexico City Arena prevented the game from being played. Before last night, the last regular-season game in Mexico occurred on Dec. 6, 1997 between the Dallas Mavericks and the Rockets.

It is important that two games have been scheduled in Mexico City Arena, a $300 million arena opened in 2012, in the past two seasons. Basketball is becoming a truly international game, and the statistics back it up.

This season, 101 international players from 37 different countries and territories will suit up in the NBA. This number breaks last season’s record of 92 international players and marks the first time in NBA history that more than 100 international players played in the league. The Spurs, the reigning NBA champions, lead the league in international players for the third straight year. The most notable of the Spurs’ nine international players are Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, but the likes of Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter and Marco Belinelli helped propel them to the championship. Perhaps the lasting image of the 2014 Finals was, through all the confetti raining down on the champs, all the international Spurs draped in their home flags.

It is truly an image that exemplifies how popular basketball is around the world. In addition to the best players around the world coming to the United States to play in the NBA, U.S. players routinely play overseas. A comical example is Stephon Marbury, who once played under the bright lights of Madison Square Garden as a Knick. Now Marbury is a star for the Beijing Ducks and has won Chinese Basketball Association titles in 2012 and 2014.

Adam Silver is always thinking about achieving higher exposure of the NBA brand around the world. Teams have been going on preseason tours in Europe for the past couple of seasons to increase its influence around the world. Silver is open to the idea of having teams in Europe, stating that in order for the model to work, there needs to be a cluster of teams there so that the logistics won’t be as burdensome as they already are.

Ultimately, this is why the existence of NBA franchises in Europe will be tricky. The traveling would be brutal not only for the teams based in Europe, who would have to come to the United States for stretches of games at a time, but also for West coast teams traveling to Europe. The NBA is discussing these types of ideas, and that is just what they are at this point: ideas. Franchises in Europe do not appear likely to be established anytime soon, but Silver will seemingly listen to any idea from anyone on how to market the NBA across the globe.

An interesting concept is if the NBA creates its own league in Europe. One issue with this idea is whether NBA stars will want to play for these teams. If not, I find it hard to believe that many people will watch the games if they contain no intriguing storylines. After all, there are unpopular games in the NBA today with teams based in the United States.

Therefore, the NBA is doing a great job of trying to expand its borders, but the truth is that it does not have to try that hard. Basketball is a global sport.