Hello dear Jokeru,
Thanks for your answer,
That may be true. A “high-end” NT would always have their top 12 players available, but weaker NTs would benefit from that as well.
To be honest, I think the big gap is not between the top 12 players themselves, but in the depth and resources to have many quality options available. It affects weaker teams much more when they miss a key player than it does teams like Spain or China, which usually have enough depth to compensate.