It took the NBA decades to do what its sister league, the WNBA, has been doing since it was born go global.

From Belgium to Mali, Jamaica to Croatia, the WNBA is a United Nations of basketball, with 46 players from 23 countries outside of the United States.

Nearly one in every four players this season was born outside of the United States, and of the 22 players selected for Monday’s All-Star Game at Washington, D.C.’s MCI Center, six are international players.

The list: Sacramento’s Ticha Penicheiro (Portugal), Charlotte’s Tammy Sutton-Brown (Canada), Washington’s Stacey Dales-Schuman (Canada), Los Angeles’s Mwadi Mabika (Congo), Cleveland’s Penny Taylor (Australia) and Seattle’s Lauren Jackson (Australia).

The reason? Prestige more than money, say players, coaches and league officials.

“We want the best players in the world,” said Renee Brown, a former Kansas University assistant coach who is the WNBA’s vice president of player personnel. “I love the fact that the WNBA is a global league.

“International players want to be in our league. We pride ourselves in getting the best players in the world. Right now, we have all the top players.”

The WNBA quickly has become seen as the elite women’s professional basketball league. Many players seek to join the WNBA even though they likely could make more money and play a longer season in Italy, France or another of the women’s professional leagues.

“Although there are very solid leagues outside the WNBA that (American) players participate in as well as international players, this is the league that everybody aspires to,” Charlotte coach Anne Donovan said.

Although there is no “typical” foreign player, the internationals in the WNBA all played for a club team.

Unlike American players, who usually learn and play basketball through their high school and college teams, international players play for teams not associated with their schools.

Jackson was playing on the Australian national team as a 16-year-old. When she was 18, she helped Australia win the silver medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics against players sometimes twice her age.

“The experience definitely makes a difference,” said Indiana coach Nell Fortner, who coached against many of the international players as the U.S. women’s basketball coach at the 2000 Olympics. “International players are put into competitive situations against older players earlier, which forces them to improve.”

International players also tend to be fundamentally sound and less specialized than Americans. For the most part, players of all positions have mastered the art of dribbling, passing and shooting the ball. One example is Utah center Margo Dydek, a Polish native who, at 7-foot-2, is the tallest player in the WNBA and a capable three-point shooter.

Among the many adjustments international players must make when they come to play in the WNBA is switching from the men’s-size ball to the smaller, 29-inch ball. Also, they often must learn English and how to cope with being away from family and friends. But the most difficult may be the physical style of basketball.

“Women’s basketball is really good around the world,” Fortner said. “We see that every four years at the Olympics. It’s not just about the Americans anymore.”