The United States remains by far the biggest exporter of players with 2,050 men and women players, with second place being Spain with 708, and France third with 630 players.
International players made up 18% of the NBA and 9% of the WNBA rosters.
In a report, FIBA, the world governing body, and the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) have published the International Basketball Migration Report (IBMR) 2024, revealing an all-time high in international transfers.
The 13th edition of the annual report investigated FIBA’s data on international transfers with the CIES’s renowned analytical expertise to provide insight into the player movement trends as well as other global basketball tendencies for the period 2023-24.
Basketball continued to grow globally and with it the IBMR 2024 indicated more records were broken.
For the first time since the introduction of the IBMR after the 2010-11 season, there were more than 13,000 international transfers with 13,149 moves recorded. The numbers of men’s transfers (10,051) and women’s transfers (3,098) both set new standards.
The number of international transfers – up from 11,787 for 2022-23 – has increased 113% since the 2010-11 season. Twenty percent of players with an international transfer move twice within the same calendar year.
Leagues in Spain, Germany, and Italy have the highest number of foreign players.
Argentina has the most U21 players, largely due to the implemented regulations that encourage their inclusion on team rosters.
U21 players receive the most playing time in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).
Australia is starting to receive more transfers from Europe – particularly from Germany and Great Britain.
For Africa, the region maintains a neutral balance in terms of exports-imports.
Notably, among the increases globally were more men’s and women’s players heading to the United States to play NCAA Division I basketball. A record total of 826 men’s international players competed in the college game – up 5.8 percent from the previous season – while women’s college basketball had a record 828 international players – up 7.1 percent from 2022-23.
