College basketball’s record-setting international influx could see ‘massive decrease’ amid revenue-sharing

College basketball’s 2025 signing class could pass for a United Nations summit.

A year after 38 foreign players joined power-conference programs directly from overseas outfits, over 70 international prospects — and perhaps even 80 or more — are expected to be on their way to the high-major ranks once the final touches have been put on the game’s 2025-26 rosters.

From Australia and Africa to the Middle East and all over Europe, international talent is flooding into the sport like never before, buoyed by financial opportunities in a year of unprecedented player compensation.

“Outside of the NBA, Division I college basketball might be the second-most lucrative basketball job in the world,” Providence coach Kim English said. “With that, we get to tap into some pretty 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 2025 boom in foreign imports looms uncertainty over whether it will ever be this attractive again for high-end international talent to take the plunge into the NCAA’s perpetually changing waters. The newly formed College Sports Commission intends to regulate third-party NIL deals in excess of $600 to ensure they meet a “valid business purpose.”

Agents, coaches and administrators are watching closely to see how the CSC ultimately defines “valid business purpose” and what it deems to be fair compensation on third-party deals. If the CSC establishes a precedent of strict enforcement, it could leave basketball programs to operate primarily within the confines of their revenue-sharing allotments when assembling rosters for 2026-27 and beyond. 

The result could be diminished basketball budgets, not necessarily at schools like Providence, but certainly for schools that must bankroll FBS football rosters.

“I think if the cap gets imposed as the NCAA intends it to, it will be an issue and we will see a massive decrease in the number of European players coming over,” said Daniel Poneman, one of college basketball’s most powerful player agents.

Agents shift focus

In a bygone era, international agents worked to secure salaries for their young clients with foreign clubs. Now, they often work to preserve collegiate eligibility, knowing that even a mid-major opportunity could bring a financial windfall that makes coming to the United States a sound decision. The key is to abide by the NCAA’s 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 practice directly associated with competition.”

International players who wait too long after finishing their secondary education to pursue the college route are also subject to being classified as sophomores, juniors or even seniors by the NCAA upon arrival. Then, there’s the red tape of the university admissions and student visa processes. 

But in the 2025 cycle, money is speaking louder than the many bureaucratic hurdles that must be cleared for foreign prospects.

“Higher level 18, 19 an 20 year-olds are able to command two or three times as much money in the NCAA as they would being a role player on a pro team overseas,” said Poneman, whose WEAVE agency represents dozens of international players. “Even lower level players can make more money at a mid-major than they would be making at the level where they’re playing overseas.”

The result is a generation of collegiate newcomers between the ages of 18 and 22 incubated by international organizations and then marketed to college coaches who may never even meet their foreign signees face-to-face before their arrival on campus.

Fifteen years ago, nearly all of college basketball’s foreign-born players played high school basketball in the United States, often at prep schools or basketball powerhouses. Subsequently, they were recruited via traditional, domestic talent pipelines. Some still are. Providence sophomore Oswin Erhunmwunse, for example, is originally from Nigeria but prepped at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut.

But the norm is increasingly to pull straight from overseas, and it comes with plenty of upside for college coaches. Instead of navigating through years of relationship-building with parents and handlers, hosting visits and camping out at summer grassroots events, those who choose to emphasize international recruiting are finding it to be an efficient process.

Such was the case for English at Providence in his recruitment of Pinnis and Vaaks, who are both 20 and from the Estonian-Latvian Basketball League. Obscure as it may sound, the ELBL is home to a slew of former Division I college players, which offered a frame of reference for the level of competition the two faced.

So, too, did a late January FIBA Europe Cup game that Vaaks played against JDA Dijon, a high-level French team that featured 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 thereafter, Providence came across his film. If Vaaks could do that against a team featuring the leading scorer for the 2019 national champions (and other former all-conference college stars), there was little doubt he was worth a shot. By April 4, the Friars had announced his signing.

English said the recruitment process was “very refreshing.”

“What really separated it for us,” English said, “is when we started talking to Stefan and talking to Peteris, it’s evident the immense level of professionalism. It’s because they’re pros.”

Vaaks offered detailed breakdowns of his team’s performance and the areas for improvement within his own game with a maturity rarely found in traditional recruiting pipelines.

“No knock on them, but the conversation is just different when you’re talking to high school players and their families than when you’re talking to professional players from Europe and their agent,” English said. “I never have spoken to Stefan Vaaks’ or Peteris Pinnis’ parents. It’s a professional proposition for them.”

English’s own time as a professional player in Europe – after a stint with the Detroit Pistons – and his experience coaching other international players provided comfort in recruiting a pair of prospects who came from so far off the grid that they don’t even have 247Sports recruiting profiles.

Some coaches aren’t there yet.

“I would say the coaches that know how to scout Europe have a distinct competitive advantage,” Poneman said. “There’s coaches who I’ll send film to and they’ll immediately know the league, they know the style of play and they know how it translates. Then, there are coaches who, I’ll send them a guy who is clearly good for their level, and they’ll kind of skip over it and ask who is in the portal. They’d rather have a guy who averaged nine points per game at Sam Houston than a guy who averaged nine points per game for a team in the Adriatic League, just because it’s a level they understand. But they’re really missing out.”

Revenue sharing could have big impact

Soon, the sport as a whole could be missing out on foreign talent. While schools are permitted following the House v. NCAA lawsuit settlement to share up to $20.5 million annually in revenue directly with athletes, the majority of that 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 just on men’s basketball. That was before the settlement was finalized and the CSC began rendering verdicts on the legitimacy of NIL deals. 

Skepticism abounds over the quality of American talent in the Class of 2026, which could drive more college programs to look overseas in recruiting. As they do, their spending power will be a significant factor in whether they are able to attract the best from around the globe.

If high-major programs are capped at an average annual roster budget of $4-5 million moving forward, the result will be a slash in player compensation relative to what was spent on 2025-26 rosters. Industry insiders believe that playing college basketball will, in turn, become less attractive to high-caliber international players, especially because many of them must earn enough to pay their own buyout when leaving a foreign club.

“All these good European players are coming over, and that talent retention and influx helps all levels,” Poneman said. “Low-major is better, mid-major is better, Division II is better, junior college is better. The talent is better across the board. But if these new salary cap restrictions do get imposed by the letter of the law, then a lot of these European guys are going to stay in Europe, because the money will not make sense for them to come over anymore. It would be a shame.”

Three international players with no American high school experience were selected in the first 20 picks of the 2025 NBA Draft after one-and-done seasons 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 in the 2025 recruiting cycle appears to have enhanced the perception of college basketball among top foreign players in a significant way.

Duke freshman Dame Sarr is an Italian wing who played last season for an FC Barcelona squad that featured numerous former NBA Draft picks. Purdue freshman Omer Mayer is an Israeli guard who spent last season with a Maccabi Tel Aviv team featuring former NBA Draft picks and college stars. Ilias Kamardine, who will play this season at Ole Miss as a 22-year-old newcomer, has played so much European professional basketball that he’s classified as a senior on the Rebels’ roster. Those are just three examples among many.

Five years ago, getting them to college basketball would have been unlikely. The same may be true again soon, depending on how the financial future of the sport unfolds.

But for now, college basketball is set to have a more distinct global flair than ever before.