The Utah Jazz are casting their net wide for international players.
“We have scouts all over the world — almost every basketball country around the world,” Danny Ainge, the team's CEO and governor, told CNBC's “Halftime Report” on Friday.
The two-time National Basketball Association champion and former NBA All-Star highlighted that he has scouts in countries in South America, Europe and Asia, as well as in every region of the US.
“It's a global sport and we have to find them all,” he said.
His comments come after the NBA announced in October that a record 125 international players — five of them on the Utah Jazz — were on opening night of the 2023-2024 season. These players came from 40 countries and territories across six continents, with a record from Canada at 26 and France at 14.
All 30 NBA teams have at least one international player this season.
According to StubHub, international ticket sales are also up 120% compared to last season. Fans are traveling from a total of 92 countries to North American games, up from 68 countries last season.
Ainge joined the Utah Jazz as CEO in December 2021 after running basketball operations for the Boston Celtics for 18 years.
The Utah Jazz's valuation currently stands at $3.09 billion, according to data from research firm Statista. This represents an increase of 52.59% from last year and an increase of 76.57% since the year Ainge joined the franchise.