By Zack Rosenblatt | For NJ Advance Media
The last time J.J. Redick traveled overseas for an NBA game, it was with the Clippers for a preseason game in China. He spent most of the trip saddened that his wife didn’t join him.
The Sixers are in London for Thursday’s game against the Celtics, and Redick wasn’t going without his wife this time.
“I told her she’s not allowed to miss these trips anymore,” Redick said.
The Duke alum wasn’t the only Sixers player accompanied by family this week. Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot’s family in Cannes, France is just a short flight away.
Same for Dario Saric, the second-year power forward from Croatia, who will play an NBA game with his father in the crowd for the first time in his NBA career.
“That’s special to me,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said.
The Sixers have some international flavor on this year’s roster, with Saric, Luwawu-Cabarrot, Ben Simmons (Australia), Joel Embiid (Cameroon) and Furkan Korkmaz (Turkey) all hailing from different parts of the world.
“I think it’s cool being somebody who’s not a typical player in the NBA, which is an American player,” Simmons said. “There’s a lot of foreign players, but it’s more American. I think it’s cool coming here and being an Aussie representing.”
The Celtics, Philadelphia’s opponent, is also stacked with international talent, led by Kyrie Irving (Australia) and Al Horford (Dominican Republic).
These are two of the most international-laden rosters in the NBA, with 11 international players between them.
But are they the most talented rosters of international players?
Here’s a ranking of the league’s best rosters with overseas flavor, restricted to teams with at least four players hailing from other countries.