Celtics Have One Of The Largest International Fanbases In The NBA
At the start of last season, NBA rosters included 120 international players from 40 different countries. Commissioner Adam Silver has made great initiatives with summer programs or simple marketing efforts to expand the game.
Gambling.com recently published a report that ranked each of the NBA’s 30 teams by their international fanbase popularity. To determine this part of their methodology was to collect data on, “the social media following of every team in the NBA to discover which teams have the highest percentage of international fans along with the country in which their largest international following is from.”
Inside The Numbers
Almost half of the Boston Celtics’ followers are international. In fact, 49.16% live outside the U.S. To take this information step further, Gambling.com found that the Celtics’ largest international fanbase is in Angola. 3.5% of their fans are based in this South African nation.
Celtics Rank 8th in International Fanbase
The Celtics certainly have a strong place in global brand recognition and fanbases outside the country, ranking in the top 10. The Brooklyn Nets are the top-ranked team, with 52.8% of their followers being international. The Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers then round out the top three.
Other Findings
The NBA reported that each of the 30 teams had at least one international player last season. Of the 120 players, 22 were from Canada, making it a record number. This was the most in the NBA. Australia then had ten players in the NBA, and France had nine. The Toronto Raptors had eight international players on their roster.
Jason Tatum’s #0 was the fifth best-selling jersey of last season. Newly signed Jaylen Brown had the 14th best-selling jersey.
As for the Celtics maintaining their top 10 ranking in NBA international fanbases in 2023, they are assured of having one player from Latvia on the team. Center Kristaps Porziņģis was traded to Boston in late June.