This weekend’s NBA Japan Games 2022 allowed the country’s basketball fans to celebrate the return of native son Rui Hachimura for the first time as a member of the Washington Wizards.
It was also a chance for the league to take its own victory lap and tout not only its global popularity, but also the number of players developed outside the United States who are now competing at the sport’s highest level.
“We have over 100 foreign players in the NBA, including a couple Japanese players in Yuta (Watanabe) and Rui,” Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said before Friday’s game at Saitama Super Arena. “I think the international component of the game has added so much in terms of not only fan interest but talent — there’s so much elite talent that comes from overseas right now.