Why are there so few Brits in the NBA?

Jeremy Sochan started in 73 of his 74 appearances for the San Antonio Spurs during the 2023-24 season

Jeremy Sochan and his San Antonio Spurs team-mates get their NBA season under way on Friday (00:30 BST) against the Dallas Mavericks.

Sochan and London-born OG Anunoby are the only two current NBA players with British links after Tosan Evbuomwan was waived by the Detroit Pistons last week.

So, who are they and why aren't there more?

Jeremy Sochan

Jeremy Sochan is heading into his third NBA season with the San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs power forward Jeremy Sochan is arguably the most recognisable British-linked name currently in the NBA.

American-born Sochan, 21, was raised in England and played for multiple English sides, most notably Southampton-based Solent Kestrels.

In the first round of the 2022 NBA draft he joined the Spurs as the ninth pick.

Since then, Sochan has played 130 games for the Texas-based franchise and is entering his third season.

"I have so much love for England, it's where I grew up at the end of the day," he told BBC Sport at NBA's 3X London event.

"I can't lie, I put most of [my success] to it," added Sochan on his English upbringing.

"This is where I started playing basketball so I think if I didn't do that, I wouldn’t be where I am right now."

Sochan represents Poland internationally, having also played for England at youth level.

OG Anunoby

OG Anunoby won the NBA Championship with the Toronto Raptors in the 2018-19 season

Defending champions the Boston Celtics started their season against the New York Knicks, whose side includes London-born Anunoby.

The forward was born in London, moving to America at the age of four.

Anunoby, 27, has 455 NBA appearances to his name, 433 of which were with the Toronto Raptors before he moved to the Knicks midway through last season.

Anunoby is also a minority stakeholder in Super League Basketball side London Lions.

In 2018-19, Anunoby won the NBA Championship with the Raptors in his second NBA season - making him the first, and to date, only, British player to do so.

Which Britons have played in the NBA?

Until recently, two more British players were contracted to NBA sides.

Newcastle-born forward Evbuomwan was waived from his two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons last week, and by the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.

Small forward Admiral Schofield left the Orlando Magic to join French side ASVEL in June.

A total of 16 British players have played in the league since its inception in 1946. Of those, four were part of Great Britain's 2012 Olympic side.

Chris Harris was the first, playing for St Louis Hawks and Rochester Royals during the 1955-1956 season.

Anunoby, Luol Deng, Ben Gordon, Steve Bucknall and Byron Mullens are the only five Brits to play in the play-offs. Deng reached them seven times, six with the Chicago Bulls and once with Miami Heat. Gordon reached them four times with the Bulls, while Bucknall (Los Angeles Lakers) and Mullens (Oklahoma City Thunder) both reached them once.

Why are there not many British NBA players?

Despite the lack of British stars in the NBA, the league generates a large British-based audience.

In Europe, Great Britain has the second largest number of NBA League Pass subscriptions, only behind Germany.

The NBA app also had an average weekly viewer increase of 52% in 2023-24 compared to the previous season from British-based fans.

Between 2013 and 2019, London’s O2 Arena hosted yearly regular-season NBA matches. Since then, Paris has been the preferred European destination for global matches.

In terms of basketball participation across Great Britain, a study from Statista found that in 2023, 344,400 people in the United Kingdom were playing basketball twice a month, a growth of almost 50% since 2021.

Although interest in the NBA is higher and participation levels are on the up, funding and the rate of which top-level British players are being developed into the NBA are low.

Including America, 20 countries have three or more players currently contracted by NBA sides. European counterparts Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine are all among those.

Internationally, Great Britain are ranked 50th in Fiba's rankings, below Cape Verde, Iceland and Estonia.

The British Basketball League, which had served as Britain's premier basketball division since 1987, folded earlier this year and was replaced by Super League Basketball - whose maiden season started last month.

Of the £245.8m invested by UK Sport before the 2024 Olympics in Paris, just £1.35m went to basketball. Of the 33 sports invested in, only eight had lower funding.

For the first time, Great Britain opted to not enter qualification for this year's Olympics. Great Britain have also failed to qualify for any of the last four Fiba World Cups.

How can Britain create more NBA players?

NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum is hoping to bring regular-season matches back to the United Kingdom

NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum met with mayor of London Sadiq Khan in New York last month, with both being keen to bring regular-season NBA matches back to the UK after five years away.

"What he reaffirmed to me is his commitment to investing in growing the game of basketball in the UK," Tatum told BBC Sport on the meeting.

"He and I talked about finding ways to bring the NBA back to the UK at some point in the not too distant future.

"I think that will continue to spark interest in the game, but we're seeing it grow very, very quickly in the UK."

Sochan agreed with Tatum, citing increased exposure in Great Britain as being a way of unearthing more talent capable of making the NBA.

"There is so much [raw] talent here, and I think if they got that [exposure], there would be way more players in division one colleges, in the NBA and other professional leagues," said Sochan.

So why should British-based basketball fans get behind Sochan and Anunoby?

"They serve as beacons of hope for basketball lovers and potential basketball players in the UK community," said basketball writer Josh Coyne.

"Sometimes, in order for people to believe that it could be them, they just need those shining lights to prove it."