NBA rosters feature a record 135 international players. And more things to know entering season

Basketball keeps getting more global.

The NBA season opens Tuesday, and the league's opening night rosters show a record 135 players who were born outside the U.S. They come from 43 countries — tying a record — and 71 are from Europe, the most ever from that continent.

That development comes with the NBA in talks, along with FIBA — the sport's global governing body — to develop a new league in Europe, something that could happen as early as 2027.

“The state of the game of basketball in Europe I think is fantastic,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last month. “They have their own traditions, which we of course want to maintain, but we think there’s an opportunity to bring an NBA-style league to the continent and to take the game to another level.”

Canada has the most non-U.S. players with 23, followed by 19 from France and 13 from Australia. And the Atlanta Hawks are opening the season with 10 international players on their roster, tying an NBA record.

All 30 teams have at least one international player on their opening night rosters. And the NBA is expected to finalize a new All-Star Game format before long, one that will have U.S. players taking on international players in a tournament.

Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — a Canadian — is the reigning MVP. Players born outside the U.S. (Serbia's Nikola Jokic three times, Greece's Giannis Antetokounmpo twice, Cameroon-born Joel Embiid once and Gilgeous-Alexander once) have won the last seven NBA MVP awards, the longest such streak in league history. It should be noted that Embiid is an American citizen and helped the U.S. win Olympic gold at the Paris Games in 2024.

At this point, every time Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James plays he updates league records. He's the NBA's all-time leader in points and minutes and has a few more milestones in his sights this season.

— His first game of the year will officially make this his 23rd season, breaking a tie with Vince Carter for the most in NBA history by a player.

— If he plays in 50 games, he'll break the record of 1,611 (regular season only) held by Robert Parish.

— If he makes 350 field goals, he'll break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's mark of 15,837.

— James Harden of the Los Angeles Clippers has 27,687 points in his career and needs 603 more points to pass Hall of Famer Carmelo Anthony for 10th on the NBA's all-time list.

— Sacramento's Russell Westbrook needs 75 assists to become the eighth player in NBA history with 10,000.

— Indiana coach Rick Carlisle is seven wins shy of 1,000 in his career. He'll be the 11th coach to get it and probably the last for at least a few more years; Miami's Erik Spoelstra enters this season with 787 wins.

— Spoelstra is nine wins shy of passing Red Auerbach for the most wins coaching one team. Auerbach won 795 with the Celtics; only Gregg Popovich (1,390 with San Antonio) and Jerry Sloan (1,127 with Utah) had more wins with one franchise.

— Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers has been on the sideline for 1,978 games, which is eighth-most — for now — in league history. If he coaches the full season, he'll climb to No. 4 on the all-time games coached list, passing Bill Fitch (2,050), Jerry Sloan (2,024), Larry Brown (2,002) and George Karl (1,999). No. 1 on that list is Lenny Wilkens (2,487), No. 2 is Don Nelson (2,318) and No. 3 is Gregg Popovich (2,214).

— Denver, Brooklyn, Indiana and San Antonio will all play their 4,000th all-time NBA game this season. Denver will get there against Brooklyn on Jan. 29, Indiana's milestone game comes Feb. 2 at home against Houston, while San Antonio and Brooklyn will both get there on Feb. 5 — the Spurs doing so in Dallas, the Nets doing so in Orlando.

— Atlanta is 33 wins away from becoming the sixth franchise with 3,000 regular season wins, joining Boston, the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia, New York and Golden State.

— Indiana is 20 wins from 2,000 regular season wins.

The league enters this season about 46,000 points shy of someone scoring the 14 millionth point in NBA history.

Based on last year's average of about 228 points per game being scored, it'll take somewhere around 200 games this season for someone to reach the milestone.

That means it'll happen somewhere around Nov. 17, give or take a day or two either way.

Among the name highlights in the NBA this season, based on the opening night rosters:

— There are seven Jordans (Boston’s Jordan Walsh, the Los Angeles Clippers’ Jordan Miller, New Orleans’ Jordan Hawkins and Jordan Poole, New York’s Jordan Clarkson, Phoenix’s Jordan Goodwin and San Antonio’s Jordan McLaughlin). Combined, they’re about 10,000 points behind Michael Jordan’s career total.

— There are five players named Nikola (Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Miami’s Nikola Jovic, Oklahoma City’s Nikola Topic, Atlanta’s Nikola Durisic and Chicago’s Nikola Vucevic).

— There are five James (the Lakers’ LeBron and Bronny James, the Clippers’ James Harden, Indiana’s James Wiseman and Charlotte’s Sion James).

— Orlando Robinson might be the only player in the league who’ll wear his first name on the front of his jersey and his last name on the back. He has a two-way deal with the Magic.

— The Bucks have three Antetokounmpo brothers: Giannis, Thanasis and two-way player Alex.

The Brooklyn Nets are young. So young, in fact, that they don’t have anyone on their roster who ranks among the league’s top 100 active scorers headed into this season.

The numbers are wild when put into perspective. Players on the Nets’ opening night roster have combined for 21,708 points and 1,018 starts at this point in their careers.

There are eight active players — LeBron James, Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, Chris Paul and Damian Lillard — with more points than the Nets’ roster starts this season with.

James, Paul, DeRozan, Mike Conley, Durant, Al Horford, Russell Westbrook, Brook Lopez and Stephen Curry all have more starts.

James, Andre Drummond and Nikola Vucevic have more rebounds than everyone on the Nets roster. Curry — the NBA’s all-time 3-point king — leads a group of six players with more 3s than the Nets, while there are 10 players with more steals and 26 players with more assists.

The leading scorer on the Nets’ roster right now is Michael Porter Jr., with 5,597 points in his career to this point.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden looks on before an NBA basketball preseason game against the Sacramento Kings, Wednesday, Oct. 15, 2025, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Scott Marshall)

Los Angeles Lakers' Lebron James, left, and Rui Hachimura share a light moment on the bench during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Sacramento Kings Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić warms up before a preseason NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia has not spared a single Ukrainian power plant from attack since its all-out invasion, Ukraine’s new energy minister said Friday, as a recent escalation of aerial bombardments left hundreds of thousands of people without heat or light for days during the coldest winter in years.

Denys Shmyhal said Russia conducted 612 attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure objects over last year. That barrage has intensified in recent months as nighttime temperatures plunge to minus 18 degrees C (minus 0.4 F).

“Nobody in the world has ever faced such a challenge,” Shmyhal told lawmakers in a speech at Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna Rada.

Russia has hammered Ukraine’s power grid, especially in winter, throughout the almost four-year war. It aims to weaken the Ukrainian will to resist in a strategy that Kyiv officials call “weaponizing winter.”

Securing from abroad new missile supplies for air defenses that can counter Russia’s power grid attacks is a difficult and exhausting process, Zelenskyy said, revealing that some of the country’s air defense systems were out of missiles and at Russia’s mercy until a new shipment arrived Friday morning.

Obtaining supplies requires intense diplomatic pressure due to minimum stockpile levels and national laws in allied countries, according to the Ukrainian leader.

“But honestly, what do those rules and laws mean when we are at war and we desperately need these missiles?” Zelenskyy said.

The grim outlook roughly halfway through the winter season coincides with uncertainty about the direction and progress of U.S.-led peace efforts.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that a Ukrainian delegation is on its way to the United States to try and finalize with Washington documents for a proposed peace settlement that relate to postwar security guarantees and economic recovery.

If American officials approve the proposals, the U.S. and Ukraine could sign the documents next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy said at a Kyiv news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel.

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to be in Davos, organizers say.

Russia would still need to be consulted on the proposals.

In Ukraine, the hardship was acute amid extended blackouts.

“This is a critical moment,” Jaime Wah, the deputy head in the Kyiv delegation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said Friday.

“This is the hardest winter since the escalation of the conflict: punishing cold temperatures and the lack of heating and electricity are affecting millions who are already pushed to the edge by years of violence and economic strain,” he told a briefing in Geneva.

Ukraine's power shortage is so desperate that Shmyhal urged businesses to switch off their illuminated signage and exterior decorations to save electricity.

“If you have spare energy, better give it to people,” the energy minister said. “This is the most important thing today. People will be grateful.”

Ukraine has introduced emergency measures, including temporarily easing curfew restrictions to allow people to go whenever they need to public heating centers set up by the authorities, Shmyhal said. He said hospitals, schools and other critical infrastructure remain the top priority for electricity and heat supplies.

Officials have instructed state energy companies Ukrzaliznytsia, Naftogaz and Ukroboronprom to urgently purchase imported electricity covering at least 50% of their own consumption, according to Shmyhal.

U.K. Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was in Kyiv on Friday to mark the first anniversary of the “100-year partnership” between Britain and Ukraine. To coincide with the anniversary, Britain announced a further 20 million pounds ($27 million) for repairs to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

A grinding war of attrition is continuing along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line. For all its military might, Russia has managed to occupy less than 20% of Ukraine since 2014.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Emergency tents are set up in a residential neighborhood where people can warm up following Russia's regular air attacks against the country's energy objects that leave residents without power, water and heating in the dead of winter, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Vladyslav Musiienko)