People in Canada will be watching, partly because of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He is the NBA's top scorer and is expected to win the MVP award. He plays for Oklahoma City and helps bring in Canadian fans.

Fans in several countries will watch NBA games, including Serbia and Greece for Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Alperen Sengun's games in Houston will also be watched late at night in Turkey. In Slovenia, fans will watch Luka Doncic and the Lakers' first playoff game early on Sunday morning, while it's Saturday evening in Los Angeles. People in Cameroon will watch Pascal Siakam play for the Indiana Pacers. The Boston team, who won last year, has players from Latvia (Kristaps Porzingis) and the Dominican Republic (Al Horford).

Again, the NBA playoffs will show the skills of players from different countries.

This season, the five best players in different areas came from five countries - something that has never happened before in the NBA. Gilgeous-Alexander is Canadian, Sabonis from Sacramento is Lithuanian and the best at getting rebounds, Wembanyama from San Antonio is French and the best at blocking shots, Daniels from Atlanta is Australian and the best at stealing the ball, and Trae Young from the Hawks is American and the best at making assists. Because of this, the playoffs will also feel very international. Gilgeous-Alexander is already in the playoffs, and Sabonis and Daniels (and Young, of course) might join him if their teams win their play-in games.

"We have a lot of international players in this league," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said earlier this season. "About 30% of our players are from, at least at the start of the season, 43 different countries. This means our teams feel much more global."

By the end of the season, players from 44 different countries scored points in the NBA. For the first time, players from a country other than the U.S. scored over 15,000 points together. Canadian players reached this goal with 15,588 points, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the first scoring champion from Canada.

Many people think Gilgeous-Alexander will win the MVP award this season, or maybe Jokic. This would mean an international player has won the award for seven years in a row. Antetokounmpo won it two times, then Jokic won three times in four years, and Joel Embiid from Cameroon won it two years ago.

Toronto coach Darko Rajakovic said that Shai is a player you cannot stop, after a game between the Raptors and Thunder this season.

In other words, he is similar to many other international players today. Nobody can really stop players like Jokic, Antetokounmpo, and Doncic either.

This season, Luka Doncic's jersey was the most popular in the NBA internationally. More of his jerseys were sold on NBAStore.com than any other player's.

The Slovenian star is the first player from another country to have the most popular jersey. He is also the first player other than Stephen Curry or LeBron James to be number one in over ten years. The last player to do this was Carmelo Anthony, who will soon join the Basketball Hall of Fame. He did it when he played for New York in 2012-13.

"We are a small country with only two million people. But honestly, our sport is fantastic," said Ajsa Sivka, another Slovenian athlete, after she was chosen by the Chicago Sky team in the WNBA. She was asked about famous Slovenian athletes like Doncic. "In every sport, we have at least one excellent person. I am truly proud to be Slovenian."

This is happening as the NBA is likely more serious than before about growing its reach around the world. Last month, FIBA, the main international basketball group, and the NBA said they would team up on a new European basketball league that has been planned for years. The first aim is to have a league with 16 teams, and it might include many of the most well-known teams in Europe, such as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester City.

This season, four NBA players scored over 2,000 points, and three of them were from other countries: Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokic, and Antetokounmpo. People around the world spent 6% more time watching NBA League Pass compared to last season. In France, more people watched NBA games this season than ever before, even though Wembanyama didn't play in the last two months. In Canada, social media about the NBA reached record numbers of views this season. Also, league information shows that more fans than ever watched in the Asia-Pacific area, which is already a very popular place for basketball.

FIBA's leader, Andreas Zagklis, said the numbers are growing because the sport is getting bigger internationally, and this shows that the game is doing very well right now.

"Around the world, and of course here in North America," Zagklis said, "the NBA is more popular and makes more money than ever."