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In the quest for foreign stars, every team today employs scouts on three or four continents. They show up at tournaments and team practices all over the world. "There are no sleepers anymore," says David Fredman, assistant general manager for the Denver Nuggets. Many European teams play only two games a week, giving scouts fewer opportunities to see prospects in action. To protect their talent, some coaches often won't play their stars when an NBA scout is visiting. Lately scouts have been journeying to Brazil, Eastern Europe, Senegal and, of course, China in their search for the Next Big Thing.
If they keep earning those frequent-flyer miles, there's no telling how cosmopolitan the NBA will get. Some observers think as many as half the league's players could be foreign-born by the end of the decade, but Commissioner Stern calls that a stretch.
"The breadth and depth of American basketball talent are not going to be challenged," he says with a smile, conveniently ignoring the U.S.'s embarrassing early exit from last year's World Basketball Championship (the winner was Yugoslavia). But he is quick to add that by that time, the league could be deriving up to half its revenue from outside the U.S. The world doesn't have to take over the NBA, Stern would like to think, for the NBA to take over the world. --With reporting by Cathy Booth Thomas/Dallas, Jackson Baker/Memphis, Sean Gregory/New York, Laura A. Locke/Sacramento, Adam Pitluk/Houston and foreign bureaus