The NBA’s Growing Globalization and the American Xenophobia Trying to Stop It

Many of the league’s best players are from other countries, which has led to a familiar flavor of societal nastiness: discrimination

Who is the current face of the NBA? This is a question that in past generations was very easy to answer. In the 1980s it was Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. In the 1990s it was Michael Jordan, who later gave way to Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Steph Curry. James and Curry are still in the league, but at 39 and 36 years old respectively, with two teams that are struggling to make the play-in, it is safe to say that their glory days are behind them.

And yet on countless television shows and podcasts, they are often the subject of conversation, and arguably still the biggest stars in the league. But the game has seen a new wave of talent that is predominantly European. Since the 2018–19 season, the winner of the league’s Most Valuable Player Award has been an international player (Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic, and Giannis Antetokounmpo), and the next seemingly great superstar player in the league, Victor Wembanyama, is also an international player. On a recent podcast, former NBA player Gilbert Arenas suggested that the NBA should “get rid of all the Europeans” to make the league better. While he later suggested that the comment was sarcasm, it…