More evidence of the globalization of American sports. The NBA (National Basketball Association) has just announced its 2008 European Tour to include preseason games at:

Oct. 9 - Paris - New Jersey Nets vs. Miami Heat (Palais Omnisport Paris Bercy)
Oct. 12 - London - New Jersey Nets vs. Miami Heat (The O2 Arena)
Oct. 14 - Berlin - Washington Wizards vs. New Orleans Hornets - (O2 World Arena)
Oct. 17 - Barcelona - Washington Wizards vs. New Orleans Hinornets  (Palau Sant Jordi)

Counting the games above, the NBA will have played 48 games in 18 different cities in Europe over the past two decades.

A record number of 83 international players were on NBA rosters for the 2006-2007 season, including the current league Most Valuable Player, Dirk Nowitzki from Germany (see full list below). Since the list was made in 2006-2007,  some players have been traded to different teams or are no longer in the league, but this gives you a good idea of how ‘international’ the NBA has become.

COUNTRY  - NAME - NBA TEAM 
Argentina - Carlos Delfino - Detroit Pistons 
Argentina - Emanuel “Manu” Ginobili - San Antonio Spurs 
Argentina - Walter Herrmann -  Charlotte Bobcats 
Argentina - Andres Nocioni - Chicago Bulls 
Argentina - Fabricio Oberto - San Antonio Spurs 
  
Australia -  Andrew Bogut - Milwaukee Bucks 
Bosnia-Herzegovina:  Damir Markota - Milwaukee Bucks 

Brazil - Rafael Araujo - Utah Jazz 
Brazil - Leandro Barbosa - Phoenix Suns 
Brazil - Anderson Varejao -  Cleveland Cavaliers 
Brazil - Marcus Vinicius - N.O. Hornets 
Brazil - Nene - Denver Nuggets 
  
Canada - Jamaal Magloire - Portland Trail Blazers 
Canada - Steve Nash - Phoenix Suns 
  
China - Yao Ming - Houston Rockets 
Congo - Didier Ilunga-Mbenga - Dallas Mavericks
Congo - Dikembe Mutombo - Houston Rockets 
  
Croatia - Gordan Giricek - Utah Jazz 
Dominican Republic - Francisco Garcia - Sacramento Kings 
England - Luol Deng - Chicago Bulls 
England - Pops Mensah-Bonsu - Dallas Mavericks 
  
France - Boris Diaw - Phoenix Suns
France - Yakhouba Diawara - Denver Nuggets 
France - Mickael Gelabale - Seattle SuperSonics 
France - Tony Parker - San Antonio Spurs 
France - Johan Petro - Seattle SuperSonics 
France - Mickael Pietrus - Golden State Warriors 
France - Ronny Turiaf - Los Angeles Lakers 
  
Georgia - Zaza Pachulia - Atlanta Hawks 
Germany - Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas Mavericks 
Greece - Vassilis Spanoulis - Houston Rockets 
Greece - Jake Tsakalidis - Memphis Grizzlies 
Guyana - Rawle Marshall - Indiana Pacers 
  
Haiti - Samuel Dalembert - Philadelphia 76ers 
Ireland - Pat Burke - Phoenix Suns 
Italy - Andrea Bargnani - Toronto Raptors 
Latvia - Andris Biendrins - Golden State Warriors 
  
Lithuania - Martynas Andriuskevicius - Chicago Bulls 
Lithuania - Zydrunas Ilgauskas - Cleveland Cavaliers 
Lithuania - Sarunas Jasikevicius - Indiana Pacers 
Lithuania - Linas Kleiza - Denver Nuggets 
Lithuania - Darius Songaila - Washington Wizards 
  
Mexico - Eduardo Najera - Denver Nuggets 
Montenegro - Aleksandar Pavlovic - Cleveland Cavaliers 
 
Netherlands - Francisco Elson - San Antonio Spurs 
Netherlands - Dan Gadzuric - Milwaukee Bucks 
New Zealand - Sean Marks - Phoenix Suns 
  
Nigeria - Michael Olowokandi - Boston Celtics 
Puerto Rico - Carlos Arroyo - Orlando Magic 
Puerto Rico - Jose Juan Barea - Dallas Mavericks 
  
Russia - Viktor Khryapa - Chicago Bulls 
Russia - Andrei Kirilenko - Utah Jazz 
Russia - Yaroslav Korolev - Los Angeles Clippers 
  
Senegal - DeSagana Diop - Dallas Mavericks 
Senegal - Mouhamed “Saer” Sene - Seattle SuperSonics 
Senegal - Pape Sow - Toronto Raptors 
  
Serbia - Zarko Cabarkapa - Golden State Warriors 
Serbia - Mile Ilic - New Jersey Nets 
Serbia - Marko Jaric - Minnesota Timberwolves 
Serbia - Nenad Krstic - New Jersey Nets 
Serbia - Darko Milicic - Orlando Magic 
Serbia - Vladimir Radmanovic - Los Angeles Lakers 
Serbia - Zeljko Rebraca - Los Angeles Clippers 
Serbia - Predrag Stojakovic - NO Hornets
 
Slovenia - Primoz Brezec - Charlotte Bobcats 
Slovenia - Bostjan Nachbar - New Jersey Nets 
Slovenia - Radoslav “Rasho” Nesterovic - Toronto Raptors 
Slovenia - Uros Slokar - Toronto Raptors 
Slovenia - Beno Udrih - San Antonio Spurs 
Slovenia - Sasha Vujacic - Los Angeles Lakers 

Spain - Jose Manuel Calderon - Toronto Raptors 
Spain - Jorge Garbajosa - Toronto Raptors 
Spain - Pau Gasol - Memphis Grizzlies 
Spain - Sergio Rodriguez - Portland Trail Blazers 
  
St. Vincent & Grenadines - Adonal Foyle - Golden State Warriors 
Switzerland - Thabo Sefolosha - Chicago Bulls 
  
Turkey - Ersan Ilyasova - Milwaukee Bucks 
Turkey - Mehmet Okur - Utah Jazz 
Turkey - Hidayet “Hedo” Turkoglu - Orlando Magic 
  
Ukraine - Vitaly Potapenko - Sacramento Kings 
Uruguay - Esteban Batista - Atlanta Hawks 
U.S. Virgin Islands - Tim Duncan - San Antonio Spurs 
U.S. Virgin Islands - Raja Bell - Phoenix Suns 
———–
In addition to the players already in the league, below are the names during 2006-2007 of international players who were not currently playing in the NBA but who are affiliated with NBA teams through the draft process:

Argentina - Federico Kammerichs - Portland Trail Blazers 
Argentina - Luis Scola - San Antonio Spurs 
Australia - David Andersen - Atlanta Hawks 
Australia - Ben Pepper - Boston Celtics 
  
Belarus - Vladimir Veremeenko - Washington Wizards 
Belgium - Alex Hervelle - Denver Nuggets 
Bosnia-Herzegovina - Edin Bavcic - Philadelphia 76ers 
Bosnia-Herzegovina - Nedzad Sinanovic - Portland Trail Blazers 
  
China - Xue Yuyang - Denver Nuggets 
Croatia - Kosta Perovic - Golden State Warriors 
Croatia - Josip Sesar - Boston Celtics 
Croatia - Roko Leni Ukic - Toronto Raptors 
  
Czech Republic - Loukas Mavrokefalidis - Minnesota Timberwolves 
Denmark - Christian Drejer - New Jersey Nets 
England - Andrew Betts - Indiana Pacers 
England - Joel Freeland - Portland Trail Blazers 
  
France - Alain Digbeu - Atlanta Hawks 
France - Ian Mahinimi - San Antonio Spurs 
France - Paccelis Morlende - Seattle SuperSonics 
France - Frederic Weiss - New York Knicks 

Georgia - Viktor Sanikidze - San Antonio Spurs 
Germany - Peter Fehse - Seattle SuperSonics 
Greece - Sofoklis Schortsanitis - Los Angeles Clippers 
Israel - Lior Eliyahu - Houston Rockets 
Isreal - Yotam Halperin - Seattle SuperSonics 
Israel - Doron Sheffer - Portland Trail Blazers 
  
Lithuania - Robertas Javtokas - San Antonio Spurs 
Lithuania - Aurelijius Zukauskas - Milwaukee Bucks 
Netherlands - Ramon Van de Hare - Orlando Magic 
Nigeria - Ejike Ugboaja - Cleveland Cavaliers 
  
Poland - Marcin Gortat - Orlando Magic 
Poland - Szymon Szewczyk - Milwaukee Bucks 
Puerto Rico - Guillermo Diaz - Los Angeles Clippers 
Puerto Rico - Ricky Sanchez - Denver Nuggets 
  
Russia - Andrei Festisov - Milwaukee Bucks 
Russia - Sergei Karaulov - San Antonio Spurs 
Senegal - Malick Badiane - Houston Rockets 
Senegal - Cheick Samb - Detroit Pistons 
Serbia and Montenegro - Dejan Bodiroga - Sacramento Kings 
Serbia and Montenegro - Mladen Sekularac - Golden State Warriors 
Serbia and Montenegro - Milos Vujanic - Phoenix Suns 
  
Slovenia - Sani Becirovic - Denver Nuggets 
Slovenia - Erazem Lorbek - Indiana Pacers 
Spain - Robert Duenas - Miami Heat 
Spain - Albert Miralles -  Boston Celtics 
Spain - Juan Carlos Navarro -  Washington Wizards 
Spain - Fran Vasquez - Orlando Magic 
  
Turkey - Cenk Akyol - Atlanta Hawks 
Ukraine - Sergey Lishok - Memphis Grizzlies 
Ukraine - Oleksiy Pecherov - Washington Wizards