NBA 2018-19: The top 10 international playersÂ
The NBA today is at its most inclusive juncture ever. Of the 240 players with guaranteed contracts in the league during the 2017-18 season who made the playoffs, an all-time high 62 of them were from countries other than the USA, representing 33 different countries.
Much of that has to do with other countries moving further along their basketball trajectories, but a lot of this can also be attributed to the number of foreign-born basketball players currently enrolled in the US education system and playing high school and college basketball from their teenage years.
The following is a list of the top 10 international players in the NBA today:
#10 Goran Dragic
Prior to February this year, Dragic was part of a list of players who've been named to an All-NBA team in their careers, but not to the All Star Game. That changed with John Wall and Kristaps Porzingis' injury withdrawals, which paved the way for the Slovenian to mark his first bow at All Star weekend festivities last season.
Dragic was the best player on a Miami Heat team which has plenty of good defenders but relies almost entirely upon its star point guard for offensive shot creation. With Dion Waiters absent for nearly all of last season with injury, Dragic was the only player who was able to create his own shot on the entire Heat roster on a consistent basis.
The Heat will go as far as Dragic can take them in the Eastern Conference playoffs as they are currently constructed. As a franchise player for a playoff team, Dragic is completely deserving of his spot among the top 10 international players in the NBA today.