The men’s basketball tournament at the Olympic Games will bring together the most NBA players in the history of the Olympic Games.

Among the 12 participating teams, and despite the fact that some of them have less pedigree, such as South Sudan (best team in Africa) or Japan (best team in Asia), all of them have a representative of the best league in the world. Up to 51 NBA players will be in Paris.

It will be the largest NBA entry in the history of the Olympic Games since 1992, when the green light was given to the participation of professional players from the American League, nine editions in total.

In percentage terms, they will make up 35.4% of the 144 who will compete, bearing in mind that only 12 players can be registered per team.

All 12 teams will have some NBA players

• USA: 12
• Canada: 10
• Australia: 8
• France: 5
• Germany: 4
• Serbia: 4
• Brazil: 2
• Japan: 2
• Spain: 1
• Greece: 1
• South Sudan: 1
• Puerto Rico: 1

All 12 participating teams will have NBA players in their squads.

The United States, as it could not be otherwise, rules in this category with a full field: 12 players from the best league in the world. Gone are the days before 1992 when they appeared with a selection of the best college players. They are followed by Canada (10), Australia (8), France (5), Germany (4), Serbia (4), Brazil (2), Japan (2), and with one each from Spain, Greece, South Sudan and Puerto Rico.

Among them are more residual players on their teams, mid-level players, many high-level players and a handful of superstars.

Six NBA season MVPs will appear: LeBron James (2009, 10, 12 and 13), Nikola Jokic (2021, 22 and 24), Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019, 20), Stephen Curry (2015, 16), Kevin Durant (2014) and Joel Embiid (2023). And up to five Finals MVP: LeBron (4), Durant (2), Antetokounmpo, Curry and Jokic.

12 NBA champions and 20 rings

In Paris there will be 12 players who throughout their careers have been proclaimed NBA champions, and between them they add up to 20 championship rings: LeBron James (4), Stephen Curry (4), Kevin Durant (2), Jrue Holiday (2), Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jayson Tatum, Derrick White, Anthony Davis, Jokic, Patty Mills, Jamal Murray and Matthew Dellavedova, the latter already out of the NBA, who won it in 2016 with the Cavaliers.

And there could have been more, but for various reasons some were left out of the call-up of their national teams, such as Ben Simmons (Nets), who will not be with Australia for another year, or Zach Edey (Grizzlies) and Andrew Wiggins (Warriors), absent in Canada.

More than half of the players have NBA experience

And many others will appear at the Olympic Games after having previously played in the NBA, but are currently playing in other leagues. Such as Nando De Colo, Frank Ntilikina and Guerschon Yabusele (France), Lorenzo Brown, brothers Willy and Juancho Hernangmez and Rudy Fernndez (Spain), Yuta Watanabe (Japan), Wenyen Gabriel (South Sudan), Aleksej Pokuevski, Filip Petrushev and Marko Guduric (Serbia), or Kostas Papanikolaou, Nick Calathes, Georgios Papagiannis, Kostas Antetokounmpo (Greece), among others.

It is no exaggeration to say that counting these players with NBA backgrounds, more than half of the players who will compete in Paris play or have played a season in the best league in the world.

Representing 27 of the 30 NBA franchises

As many as 27 of the 30 franchises of the world’s best league will be represented at these Games.

The Celtics (Jrue Holiday, Derrick White and Jayson Tatum), Wolves (Nickel Alexander-Walker, Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert), Lakers (LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura) and Suns (Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bol Bol) will each have three players. Only Knicks, Jazz and Cavaliers will not have any players in the competition.

And two of the benches of those 12 teams will also feature NBA coaches. Steve Kerr (Warriors) will be at the helm of the umpteenth U.S. Dream Team, the big favorite to win gold. And Spain’s Jordi Fernandez, who will make his debut next season as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, will coach Canada at the Games, one of the great rivals of the U.S. giants, with 10 NBA players in the squad.