After long awaited return, NBA will feature 89 international players

The NBA is finally back in season as they kick off games inside a bio-secure bubble in Orlando, Florida.

Notably, 89 international players from 34 countries and territories are featured in rosters after the Covid-19 pandemic-enforced break.

After a four and a half month pause on play, international players include eight NBA All-Stars such as Milwaukee Bucks' Greek forward MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, last year's MVP, Dallas Mavericks' Luka Doncic from Slovenia and Philadelphia 76ers' Cameroonian center Joel Embiid.

Antetokounmpo, 25, has continued his rise this season, averaging 29.6 points and 13. 7 rebounds per game -- both career-highs -- as the Bucks top the Eastern Conference standings with a 53-12 record.

Doncic, the reigning Rookie of the Year, has racked up a league-high 14 triple-doubles.

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All 22 teams will have at least one international player on their roster, with the Mavericks boasting a league-high seven.

Canada has 15 NBA players and France seven, followed by Australia, Germany and Serbia with five each.

The NBA, which halted its season in March due to the pandemic, will have 22 of its 30 teams play eight seeding games to determine a full 16-team playoff field that will follow the traditional post-season format with four best-of-seven series.

All games, practices and accommodation are at the Walt Disney World Resort, which has multiple hotels and arenas and allows the league to limit outside exposure to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The season restarts on Thursday with the Utah Jazz taking on the New Orleans Pelicans followed by the Los Angeles Clippers against city rivals the Lakers.

The first round of the playoffs starts on August 17.

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Cautionary tale

To ensure the leagues safety, players and team members undergo  regular testing for Covid-19. So far, the caution seems to be paying off. For the second consecutive week, no NBA players tested positive for the virus.

The league and the NBA Players Association announced Wednesday that 344 players had been tested since the results were last announced on July 20. The league tested 346 players that week.

The report is encouraging news from within the NBA bubble near Orlando, given that Major League Baseball grapples with a coronavirus outbreak affecting a reported 18 members of the Miami Marlins.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said on "Good Morning America" that his league is watching the MLB developments.

"Obviously, we're seeing what's happening in baseball with the Marlins, so it's something we continue to track very closely," Silver said. "Having said that, we have confidence in the protocol that we designed."

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