The NBA’s Global Empire

During the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the Dream Team, a collective of the National Basketball Association’s top talent led by Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Charles Barkley, shook up the world as they amazed spectators and opponents on their way to winning gold. Their success introduced the world to the NBA’s charismatic superstars and their artistic brand of basketball. Over the next two decades, youth outside of America dreamed of becoming the next Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and LeBron James. The NBA took advantage of its popularity in China by forming lucrative television and streaming deals and opening training academies. By the 2022-23 NBA season, there were 109 international players from 39 countries, a Canadian franchise, and a league in Africa. Today’s best players are Africans, Canadians and Europeans like Nikola Jokić and Victor Wembanyama.
This book presents the history of the NBA’s ascension to a billion-dollar global empire, analyzing the globalization of American sports since the end of the Cold War and the dawn of the millennium. How essential is globalization for the NBA to thrive in the 21st century? Do the benefits outweigh the geopolitical controversies associated with being a global brand? Is globalization responsible for a decline in American-born NBA players and declining domestic popularity? These questions and others are answered in this first treatment of the NBA’s global reach.

Joshua K. Wright, Ph.D., is an associate professor of history in the Global Studies Department at Trinity Washington University in Washington, DC. He is a guest contributor for MSNBC Daily.

Joshua K. Wright
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 281
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2025
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9582-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5468-3
Imprint: McFarland

Preface 1
Introduction 9

1. It Was All a Dream 19
2. Redemption Song 47
3. Views from the 6ix 73
4. The Joker 100
5. Hoops Diplomacy 131
6. The Air Up There 159
7. American Pastime 185

Epilogue 209
Chapter Notes 215
Bibliography 243
Index 263