Every October the NBA publishes the full list of international players on its opening-night rosters, name by name. We counted the Canadians in each list since 2014-15 and the players from every other country, then added the Canadian draft picks from every NBA draft and the league's own award histories.
How many Canadians are in the NBA each season
The count was 12 in the NBA's 2014-15 list and stayed between 11 and 13 for five seasons. It jumped to 20 in 2019-20, the season after a record six Canadians were drafted in June 2019, and peaked at 26 in 2023-24. The 2025-26 list has 23 Canadians on 16 teams; no team had more than three, the number on the Memphis Grizzlies: Brandon Clarke, Zach Edey and Olivier-Maxence Prosper. The NBA's 2026-27 release counts 16.
| Season | Canadians | On two-way deals | Next-most country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014-15 | 12 | - | France (10) |
| 2015-16 | 12 | - | France (10) |
| 2016-17 | 11 | - | France (10) |
| 2017-18 | 12 | 1 | France (11) |
| 2018-19 | 13 | 2 | Australia and France (9) |
| 2019-20 | 20 | 4 | Australia and France (9) |
| 2020-21 | 18 | 1 | France (11) |
| 2021-22 | 20 | 2 | France (12) |
| 2022-23 | 22 | 2 | Australia (10) |
| 2023-24 | 26 | 5 | France (14) |
| 2024-25 | 21 | 0 | France (14) |
| 2025-26 | 23 | 7 | France (19) |
| 2026-27 | 16 | n/a | France (17), ahead of Canada |
The NBA's own headline numbers left two-way players out from 2017-18 to 2021-22, which is why it reported 16 Canadians for 2019-20 rather than 20. Since 2022-23 its count includes them. Two-way players split their season between an NBA team and its G League affiliate, and seven of the 23 Canadians in 2025-26 were on such deals, including Ryan Nembhard and Jahmyl Telfort.
Canada and France, the most represented countries in the NBA after the US
Canada was the No. 1 country outside the United States on every opening night from 2014-15 to 2025-26, and the NBA's 2025-26 release called it the 12th straight season. That ended in 2026-27, when France had 17 and Canada 16, according to the NBA's release as reported by the Associated Press. Before the run, in 2012-13 and 2013-14, France led with 10 players to Canada's eight.
- Closest calls: 2016-17, Canada 11 and France 10, and 2017-18, Canada 12 and France 11 once two-way players are counted.
- Widest margins: 12 players, in 2022-23, Canada 22 and Australia 10, and in 2023-24, Canada 26 and France 14.
- In 2025-26 France had a record 19, four fewer than Canada. In 2026-27 France has 17 and Canada 16.
- 48 different Canadians appeared on at least one opening-night list from 2014-15 to 2025-26, from Steve Nash, on the 2014-15 Los Angeles Lakers, to Will Riley, a 2025-26 rookie with the Washington Wizards.
The lead is thinner than the headline. Counting only standard contracts, France had 18 players on opening night in 2025-26 and Canada 16, the first season since the NBA began publishing full lists in 2014-15 that Canada did not lead on that measure.
Counts also depend on who is called Canadian. Canada Basketball counted 25 for 2025-26 because it includes Chris Boucher, whom the NBA lists under Saint Lucia, and Kyshawn George, listed under Switzerland. We use the NBA's lists throughout.
Canadian NBA draft picks by year
Since the draft went to two rounds in 1989, 40 Canadians have been picked, and most of them recently. From 1989 to 2009 there were six, four of them in the first round: Rick Fox, Steve Nash, Jamaal Magloire and Samuel Dalembert. From 2010 to 2026 there were 34, with 21 first-round picks.
- 2019: six Canadians drafted, a record for any country outside the US at the time, the NBA said; four went in the first round, led by RJ Barrett at No. 3.
- 2014: four, among them Andrew Wiggins at No. 1 and Nik Stauskas at No. 8, the first time two Canadians went in the top 10.
- 2022: four, with Bennedict Mathurin at No. 6 and Shaedon Sharpe at No. 7.
- 2025: one, Will Riley at No. 21. The 2026 draft table lists no Canadian, the first such draft since 2020.
Some of the best Canadians were not drafted at all. Luguentz Dort and Chris Boucher went undrafted, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, now a two-time MVP, went 11th in 2018, to the Charlotte Hornets, who traded his rights to the Los Angeles Clippers on draft night.
Canadian top-10 and No. 1 draft picks
Ten Canadians have been top-10 picks, and nine of them came in the 14 drafts from 2011 to 2024. The first was Bob Houbregs, the No. 2 pick in 1953.
| Draft | Pick | Player | Team | College |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | No. 2 | Bob Houbregs | Milwaukee Hawks | Washington |
| 2011 | No. 4 | Tristan Thompson | Cleveland Cavaliers | Texas |
| 2013 | No. 1 | Anthony Bennett | Cleveland Cavaliers | UNLV |
| 2014 | No. 1 | Andrew Wiggins | Cleveland Cavaliers | Kansas |
| 2014 | No. 8 | Nik Stauskas | Sacramento Kings | Michigan |
| 2016 | No. 7 | Jamal Murray | Denver Nuggets | Kentucky |
| 2019 | No. 3 | RJ Barrett | New York Knicks | Duke |
| 2022 | No. 6 | Bennedict Mathurin | Indiana Pacers | Arizona |
| 2022 | No. 7 | Shaedon Sharpe | Portland Trail Blazers | Kentucky |
| 2024 | No. 9 | Zach Edey | Memphis Grizzlies | Purdue |
Canada had the No. 1 pick in back-to-back drafts. Anthony Bennett went first to Cleveland in 2013, and Andrew Wiggins went first to Cleveland in 2014 and was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves before playing a game. Wiggins went on to be Rookie of the Year and, in 2022, a champion. How every No. 1 pick turned out puts both in context.
Canadian NBA MVPs and award winners
Two Canadians have won the MVP award, each of them twice, according to the NBA's list of winners.
- Steve Nash, Phoenix Suns: MVP in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder: MVP in 2024-25 and 2025-26, the 14th player to win it in back-to-back seasons. In 2024-25 he also won the title and the Finals MVP award.
- Andrew Wiggins, Minnesota Timberwolves: Rookie of the Year in 2014-15.
- Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Atlanta Hawks: Most Improved Player in 2025-26, when Gilgeous-Alexander was also Clutch Player of the Year.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort won the 2025 title together with Oklahoma City, which beat the Indiana Pacers in seven games, and Canada Basketball notes that Wiggins, with the 2022 Golden State Warriors, and Jamal Murray, with the 2023 Denver Nuggets, are the other active Canadians with a ring. Our look at how often the NBA MVP wins the championship covers Nash's seasons and Gilgeous-Alexander's.
The Toronto Raptors and the 2026-27 NBA season
The Toronto Raptors are the NBA's only Canadian team and its only champion from outside the US: they beat the Golden State Warriors 4-2 in the 2019 Finals. The 2025-26 Raptors had two Canadians on opening night, RJ Barrett and AJ Lawson.
In the preseason the NBA Canada Games had the Raptors facing the Miami Heat in Quebec City on October 3, the league's first preseason game there, and the LA Clippers in Vancouver on Saturday, October 10. The regular season began on Tuesday, October 20, and Toronto opened at home with a 135-92 win over the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday, October 21. The Raptors were 4-3 through November 2. Our preseason projections for 2026-27 had them at 47 wins.
The NBA published its 2026-27 opening-night list on October 20, with 125 international players from a record-tying 43 countries. We have its totals but not the player-by-player list, so the details above stop at 2025-26. The 2026-27 NBA schedule has every game in Eastern Time, and the NBA season simulator plays out the year.
Canadian NBA players: frequently asked questions
How many Canadians are in the NBA? The NBA's 2026-27 opening-night list has 16, the second-most of any country outside the United States, behind France's 17. In 2025-26 it had 23, the most; Canada Basketball, which also counts Chris Boucher and Kyshawn George, had 25.
Which Canadians have won the NBA MVP? Steve Nash in 2005 and 2006 with Phoenix, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in 2025 and 2026 with Oklahoma City.
Has a Canadian been the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft? Twice: Anthony Bennett in 2013 and Andrew Wiggins in 2014, both taken by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
What is the record for Canadians in one NBA draft? Six, in 2019: RJ Barrett, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Brandon Clarke, Mfiondu Kabengele, Ignas Brazdeikis and Marial Shayok.
How this was built: Canadians per season are counted from the NBA's player-by-player lists of international players on opening-night rosters, published by NBA Communications each October from 2014-15 to 2025-26, including the separate two-way lists of 2017-18 to 2021-22; 2012-13 and 2013-14 figures are from the text of those years' releases. Draft picks are every pick with Canadian nationality in the draft tables of Wikipedia's pages for each NBA draft from 1947 to 2026, read through its API; awards and champions are from NBA.com's history pages. Canadian means the country the NBA or the draft table lists, as of October 5, 2026. The 2026-27 totals are from the NBA's release of October 20, 2026 as reported by the Associated Press, read on November 3; the Raptors' results are from ESPN.