NBA global reach has brought in some of its best players

Over the last 50 years, athletes such as Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Irving, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, and Kobe Bryant have dominated the National Basketball Association. Those names help make the NBA what it is today, but could the league’s landscape change right before our eyes?

The last six Most Valuable Player recipients went to all foreigners: Milwaukee Bucks Giannis Antetokounmpo, Philadelphia 76ers Joel Embiid, and the Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic.

Four out of five candidates were born outside American soil in this year’s MVP race. Though the world is still not ready to be the head honcho over the United States for global basketball, you best believe that foreign countries are coming.

Nobody knows what the future will hold, but we better start preparing to see the game of basketball expand like it never has before.

If you’re not a fan of foreign hoopers, then I have bad news for you: the league’s future superstar will not be Jokic or Embiid once Lebron leaves. It’ll be the seven-foot-four power forward in San Antonio, and that’s a check you can take to the bank.