{"id":227410,"date":"2025-10-20T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227410\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T12:16:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T12:16:10","slug":"the-nba-is-at-its-international-peak-but-british-players-still-cant-break-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/227410\/","title":{"rendered":"The NBA is at its international peak, but British players still can\u2019t break through"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The NBA<\/a> is being hit by an international storm, attracting athletes from all corners of the world. At the start of the 2024-25 season, the league announced that a record-tying 125 international players<\/a> were on opening night rosters.\n <\/p>\n

\n Those 125 players came from 43 countries, including Australia, Germany, France, Cameroon and Serbia.\n <\/p>\n

\n Fast-forward to the 2025 NBA draft. Behind the flashing lights and celebratory fireworks surrounding top prospects Cooper Flagg<\/a>, Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey was an underappreciated, perhaps even more compelling story of an international player waiting for his big chance.\n <\/p>\n

\n As social media buzzed through the first round and beyond, Amari Williams waited patiently in the wings. The former University of Kentucky center from Great Britain, far removed from the bright lights, wasn\u2019t your standard international draftee story.\n <\/p>\n

\n So when he was selected<\/a> by the 18-time NBA champion Boston Celtics midway through the second round, it was more than just a personal triumph \u2013 it was a win for British basketball on the world\u2019s biggest stage.\n <\/p>\n

\"Boston<\/p>\n

\n Born and raised in Nottingham, a mid-sized city two hours north of London in England\u2019s East Midlands, Williams became just the sixth homegrown British player to be drafted to the NBA in the last 25 years, according to Hoopsfix<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Following a five-year college stint \u2013 playing for Drexel University in the first four and finishing his collegiate career as a Kentucky Wildcat \u2013 the seven-foot center<\/a> was drafted by the Orlando Magic, who subsequently traded his draft rights to the Celtics. Boston then signed Williams to a two-way contract<\/a> in mid-August.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt\u2019s a great feeling,\u201d the 23-year-old told CNN Sports<\/a>. \u201cThey (the Celtics) won it recently, the players they\u2019ve got, all the older guys \u2013 I want to adapt and learn as much as I can this year.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe best thing is there\u2019s no better players to learn from,\u201d he added.\n <\/p>\n

\n Although Williams\u2019 journey has been a successful one, it has by no means been simple. At the age of 16, he moved 118 miles from Nottingham to an agricultural boarding college in rural northwest England, the only place where Williams could pursue basketball full-time.\n <\/p>\n

\"Williams,<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe were essentially living on a farm, going from a city like Nottingham to living in the countryside was very different,\u201d Williams said about his upbringing.\n <\/p>\n

\n Like many British hoopers, Williams had little opportunity to showcase his talents because basketball-dedicated spaces in good condition are few and far between in the United Kingdom. And even when those spaces are available, they are often used for several different competing sports.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNot a lot of people were able to train as much,\u201d Williams said. \u201cWhen I moved to Preston, we were able to train, but it\u2019s tough when you have to share with badminton and other sports.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The average NBA consumer will point towards the likes of San Antonio Spurs power forward Jeremy Sochan or London-born New York Knicks forward OG Anunoby as the association\u2019s British representation.\n <\/p>\n

\n But the Oklahoma-born Sochan spent half of his high school life in the US, despite growing up in Milton Keynes, and Anunoby swapped the English capital for Missouri at the age of four.\n <\/p>\n

\n Over 1.5 million people play basketball weekly across the UK and it has grown to be the country\u2019s second most popular team sport in recent years, according to Sport England\u2019s<\/a> 2024 Active Lives survey.\n <\/p>\n

\n Additionally, NBA fandom among adults in Britain has grown by 24% since 2022, according to the UK Government<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n So why, despite popularity at a recreational level, are there so few British NBA players?\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lack of direction in the UK,\u201d Knicks forward Tosan Evbuomwan, who was born and raised in Newcastle \u2013 a large metropolitan city in northeast England \u2013 told CNN Sports.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere haven\u2019t been many guys that have progressed through the UK and play at the top levels, so there\u2019s not many people to give you direction. You have to figure it out yourself a lot of the time, to be honest.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Tosan<\/p>\n

\n Evbuomwan experienced that lack of direction from the start of his basketball journey. At the age of 15, with no school team in place, he and a group of friends took it upon themselves to create one.\n <\/p>\n

\n Although it was his first time playing \u201corganized\u201d basketball, there was no organization about it at all: no coaches, no formal training, just a shared desire to play the game. Together, they coached each other and played in their own tournaments.\n <\/p>\n

\n After impressing at his first competition, Evbuomwan was scouted by the Newcastle Eagles academy team before being offered a scholarship to play Division One basketball at Ivy League school Princeton University in 2019.\n <\/p>\n

\"Evbuomwan<\/p>\n

\n Four years of hard work \u2013 in which Evbuomwan won Ivy League Player of the Year and was a two-time first-team All-Ivy League selection \u2013 resulted in two-way contracts from 2023 onwards with the Memphis Grizzlies, Detroit Pistons, Brooklyn Nets and now the Knicks.\n <\/p>\n

\n Although the British point guard turned small forward has come a long way on his basketball journey, he never forgets the hardships of where he came from.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI can probably count on one hand how many shooting guns there are in the whole of the UK,\u201d the 24-year-old chuckled, referring to a specific type of shooting machine used in drills.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMe and my friends used to play all the time: one-on-one, two-on-two. I didn\u2019t know we were supposed to get shots up and work on movements.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cGetting shots up was the simplest, most basic thing in terms of practice and basketball and I didn\u2019t know to do that at all \u2013 and I\u2019m sure I wasn\u2019t alone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n To be an aspiring British basketball player is to live with hopes and dreams that may never be fulfilled. And despite the game\u2019s immense popularity, the sport is in the grips of a governance crisis in the UK.\n <\/p>\n

\n On October 14, global basketball governing body FIBA temporarily suspended<\/a> the British Basketball Federation (BBF) and banned the British men\u2019s national team from playing in FIBA senior competitions.\n <\/p>\n

\n The decision came after the basketball authority established a taskforce in August to investigate and address \u201capparent governance issues and regulatory non-compliance\u201d within British men\u2019s club competitions.\n <\/p>\n

\n An ongoing dispute<\/a> between the BBF, a group of investors and teams in the UK\u2019s current professional league (Super League Basketball), has reached Britain\u2019s High Court with an initial hearing set for July 2026.\n <\/p>\n

\n In a statement<\/a>, the BBF said that it is committed to \u201crestoring, confidence, transparency and sustainability within the sport.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n CNN Sports has reached out to the BBF for comment.\n <\/p>\n

\n Despite the turmoil in the British professional game, work is being done at the grassroots level to nurture the sport.\n <\/p>\n

\n In September, the UK government announced that basketball will benefit from a joint \u00a310 million (roughly $13.4 million) investment at a recreational level.\n <\/p>\n

\n A press release<\/a> from the government reported that \u00a35 million will be committed to basketball in 2026\/27, with the NBA matching that investment with their own funding of \u00a35 million through to 2028. The joint investment plans to bring the game to communities up and down the country.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cBasketball is booming in Britain \u2013 and this investment will help take it to the next level, opening up the game to thousands more people right across the country,\u201d said UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThis is about more than sport \u2013 it\u2019s about community, inclusion and inspiring the next generation to find their spark.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Despite work being done on the recreational level, without a well-organized system currently in place to help nurture talent at the top level, there are few pioneers that the next generation can look up to.\n <\/p>\n

\n But rather poetically, Williams cites Evbuomwan as someone who inspired him on his NBA journey.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn my age group, or around my age, Tosan was the first to do it and be able to make the NBA,\u201d said Williams.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cFrom playing in Newcastle and going to Princeton, seeing him do it has inspired me and a lot of other people to take that path.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Ideally, that path becomes more attainable as time goes on, giving aspiring British talent more stars to look up to when they do get shots up.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhatever I can do to help him and the younger generation, I\u2019ll always be there,\u201d Evbuomwan said of mentoring Williams.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cMe and Amari have a real relationship and that only helps the situation. In the same way, me and Sochan talk and he\u2019s helped me \u2013 being here a year longer, that experience really does matter.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA is being hit by an international storm, attracting athletes from all corners of the world. At…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-227410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}