The 2025 class of college basketball signees could pass for a United Nations summit.
A year after 38 foreign players joined Power Conference programs directly from overseas teams, more than 70 international prospects — and perhaps even 80 or more — are expected to be on their way to the highest ranks once the final touches are put on the game’s 2025-2026 rosters.
From Australia to Africa to the Middle East and across Europe, international talent is flooding into the sport like never before, buoyed by financial opportunities during a year of unprecedented player compensation.
“Apart from the NBADivision I college basketball could be the second most lucrative basketball job in the world,” Providence said coach Kim English. “With this we can tap into some really good talent.”
Providence is one of more than 15 high-majors welcoming at least two international newcomers, as Estonian guard Stefan Vaaks and Latvian big Peteris Pinnis join the Friars for the 2025-26 season.
But behind the expected boom in foreign imports in 2025 looms uncertainty over whether it will ever again be as attractive for top international talent to wade into the ever-changing waters of the NCAA. The newly formed The University Athletics Commission intends to regulate NIL transactions with third parties exceeding $600 to ensure they serve a “valid business purpose.”
Agents, coaches and administrators are closely monitoring how the CSC ultimately defines “good business purpose” and what it considers fair compensation for third-party transactions. If the CSC sets a precedent of strict enforcement, it could let basketball programs operate primarily within the confines of their income sharing allowances when assembling rosters for 2026-2027 and beyond.
The result could be diminished basketball budgets, not necessarily at schools like Providence, but certainly for schools that must fund FBS football teams.
“I think if the cap is imposed the way the NCAA wants, it will be a problem and we will see a massive decrease in the number of European players coming in,” said Daniel Poneman, one of college basketball’s most powerful player agents.
Agents change direction
In the past, international agents worked to guarantee the salaries of their young clients with foreign clubs. Today, they often strive to preserve their college eligibility, knowing that even a mid-level opportunity could bring a financial windfall that would make coming to the United States a good decision. The key is adhering to NCAA rules, which state that pre-college compensation must be limited to “less than or equal to the student-athlete’s actual and necessary expenses related to competition and training directly associated with competition.”
International players who wait too long after finishing high school to pursue college also risk being classified as sophomores, juniors or even seniors by the NCAA upon arrival. Then there’s the bureaucracy of the college admissions and student visa processes.
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But in the 2025 cycle, money speaks louder than the many bureaucratic hurdles that must be overcome for foreign prospects.
“Higher-level 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds are able to make two or three times as much money in the NCAA as they would as players on a professional team overseas,” said Poneman, whose agency WEAVE represents dozens of international players. “Even lower-level players can make more money at a mid-major than they would at the level they play overseas.”
The result is a generation of college newcomers aged 18 to 22, incubated by international organizations and then marketed to college coaches who may never even meet their foreign signees in person until they arrive on campus.
Fifteen years ago, almost all foreign-born college basketball players played high school basketball in the United States, often at prep schools or basketball centers. Subsequently, they were recruited through traditional national talent pools. Some still are. Sophomore at Providence Oswin Erhunmwunsefor example, is originally from Nigeria but prepared at the Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut.
But the norm is increasingly to recruit directly from abroad, which has many advantages for college coaches. Instead of spending years building relationships with parents and managers, arranging tours and camping at local summer events, those who choose to emphasize international recruiting find it to be an effective process.
This was the case for English in Providence by recruiting Pinnis and Vaaks, both 20 years old and from the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League. As obscure as it may seem, the ELBL is home to many former Division I college players, which provides a frame of reference for the level of competition both men face.
The same was true for a FIBA Europe Cup match in late January that Vaaks played against JDA Dijon, a top French team that included former Villanova star Phil Booth and a handful of other former Division I stars.
Vaaks finished with team highs in points (14) and assists (six) in a 76-70 loss. Shortly after, Providence discovered his film. If Vaaks could do that against a team featuring the 2019 national champions’ leading scorer (and other former all-conference college stars), there was no doubt he was worth the risk. On April 4, the brothers announced his signing.
English said the recruiting process was “very refreshing.”
“What really separated us,” English said, “was when we started talking to Stefan and Peteris, the immense level of professionalism was evident. It’s because they’re pros.”
Vaaks offered detailed analyzes of his team’s performance and areas for improvement in his own game with a maturity rarely found in traditional recruiting pipelines.
“There’s nothing wrong with them, but it’s just a different conversation when you’re talking to high school players and their families than when you’re talking to professional European players and their agent,” English said. “I have never spoken to the parents of Stefan Vaaks or Peteris Pinnis. This is a professional proposition for them.”
English’s time as a professional player in Europe — following a stint with the Detroit Pistons — and his experience coaching other international players allowed him to recruit two prospects from so far away that they don’t even have 247Sports recruiting profiles.
Some coaches are not there yet.
“I would say coaches who know how to scout Europe have a clear competitive advantage,” Poneman said. “There are coaches that I will send film to and they will immediately know the league, they will know the style of play and they know how that translates. Then there are coaches that I will send them a guy who is clearly good for their level, and they will jump on it and ask who is in the portal. They would rather have a guy who averages nine points per game at Sam Houston than a guy who averaged nine points per game for an Adriatic League team, simply because it’s a level they understand. But they are really missing something. »
Revenue sharing could have a big impact
Soon, the sport as a whole may be short of foreign talent. Although schools are authorized following the Home vs. NCAA lawsuit settlement to share up to $20.5 million in annual revenue directly with athletes, the majority of which will be earmarked for football in the ACC, Big 12, Big Ten and SEC.
In the 2025 cycle, speculation swirled that at least one school spent $20 million on men’s basketball alone. This was before the settlement was finalized and the SCC began issuing verdicts on the legitimacy of NIL agreements.
Skepticism abounds about quality of American talent in the class of 2026, which could prompt more college programs to look overseas for recruiting. In doing so, their purchasing power will be an important factor in their ability to attract the best from around the world.
If major programs are capped at an average annual budget of $4-5 million going forward, the result will be a significant reduction in player compensation compared to what was spent on 2025-26 teams. Industry professionals believe that playing college basketball will, in turn, become less attractive to high-caliber international players, particularly because many of them must earn enough money to pay for their own buyout when they leave a foreign club.
“All these good European players are coming in, and the retention and influx of talent helps across the board,” Poneman said. “Low level is better, mid level is better, Division II is better, college is better. The talent is better across the board. But if these new salary cap restrictions are imposed by the letter of the law, then a lot of these Europeans are going to stay in Europe, because the money is no longer going to make sense for them to come to Europe. That would be a shame.”
Three international players with no U.S. high school experience were selected among the 2025 top-20 picks. NBA Draft after a unique season in college basketball. The collective success of Egor Demin (BYU/Russia), Khaman Maluach (Duke/South Sudan) and Kasparas Jakucionis (Illinois/Lithuania) and the money available for the 2025 recruiting cycle appears to have significantly improved the perception of college basketball among top foreign players.
Duke Freshman Dame Sarr is an Italian wing who played last season for an FC Barcelona team featuring many former NBA Draft picks. Purdue Freshman Omer Mayer is an Israeli guard who spent last season with a Maccabi Tel Aviv team filled with former NBA Draft picks and college stars. Ilias Kamardine, who will play this season at Ole Mademoiselle as a 22-year-old newcomer, he has played so much European professional basketball that he is listed as a senior on the Rebels’ roster. These are just three examples among many.
Five years ago, getting them to college basketball would have been improbable. The same could be true again soon, depending on how the sport’s financial future plays out.
But for now, college basketball is poised to have a more distinct global dimension than ever.
