USA/CAN – More international players than ever before in NBA

NEW YORK (NBA) - They arrive from all corners of the globe.

The NBA has a stronger international presence than ever before with 84 players from 38 countries and territories on its rosters for the new season, which tipped off on Tuesday night.

France now rank number one in terms of the number of players in the league with 11 and the nation that beat them in the Eight-Finals of the FIBA World Championship in Istanbul at the end of September, Turkey, are second with five.

The Toronto Raptors have the most international players, with six, followed by the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz, with five each. Eight teams have four international players.

The Americans won the gold medal at the World Championship with an all-NBA team, led by tournament MVP Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Teams at all four venues in Turkey - Izmir, Kayseri, Ankara and Istanbul - had players that were headed for North America after the tournament.

Omer Asik (Chicago) and Semih Erden (Boston) of Turkey were NBA rookies in waiting, as well as Brazil's Tiago Splitter (San Antonio) and Russia's Timofey Mozgov (New York),

On Tuesday night, the season tipped off and France's Nicolas Batum, Argentina's Luis Scola, China's Yao Ming and the Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol caused the biggest stir for the foreign contingent in the league.

Batum had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Portland in their 106-92 home win over Phoenix.

Gasol had 29 points and 11 boards for LA in their 112-110 win over Houston, who got 18 points and 16 rebounds from Scola.

Yao, who missed all of last season while recovering from injury, played 23 minutes and had 11 boards to go with his nine points for the Rockets.

Boston played and thumped the Miami Heat and their 'big three' of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, 88-80, but Erden did not play for the Celtics.

FIBA