Brook Lopez in AXA-NBA Partnership Launch

Brook Lopez, NBA’s hotshot player and the Brookyln Nets’ all-time scoring leader, took centerstage during the official launch of the partnership between AXA Philippines, the number one global insurer, and the NBA, the most popular basketball league in the world, held at the Hard Rock Café recently. Brook witnessed the forging of this historic tie-up, wherein AXA will serve as the league’s official insurance partner. Shown here with Brook is Rahul Hora, President and CEO of AXA Philippines.

Jr. NBA Philippines Spreads Holiday Cheer at Philippine Heart Center

Dozens of children battling different heart illnesses received stuffed toys and a lot of Holiday cheer from Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Philippines presented by Alaska this Christmas when Jarrell Lim, Jr. NBA Philippines All-Star and Alaska Goodwill Ambassador 2011 and Jr. NBA Coach Ruben Lanot visited the Pediatric Ward of Philippine Heart Center this December. Apart from the gifts, the UP Fighting Maroon guard and Coach Ruben encouraged the kids to continue their battle against their various conditions and played with them in their newly opened Play It Forward Play Space. Dr. Ina Bunyi, Section Chief, Pediatric Cardiac Rehabilitation of the Philippine Heart Center and her staff thanked the Jr. NBA Philippines representatives for coming and cheering up the young patients. “The toys and your words of encouragement made these young heart patients happy. You have set them on the road to recovery,” she said. Above, Jarrell Lim (left) and Coach Ruben Lanot (right) offer a toy to a young heart patient as Dr. Bunyi looks on.

NBA Store Now Have Christmas Day Jerseys

The National Basketball Association (NBA) officially announced today that select NBA Christmas Day jerseys are now available in the NBA Store in both Glorietta and Mega Fashion Hall.

Designed as part of the adidas NBA Season’s Greetings Collection, the uniforms incorporate primary team colors and cream tones with player names and numbers showcased in holiday-style script and detailed with woven rows of stitching.  Displayed on the back of the jersey is a scarlet NBA seal taking inspiration from holiday greeting cards.

Filipinos will get the chance to purchase the limited edition Christmas jerseys of Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Damian Lillard, Derrick Rose, and John Wall.  Fans can also gear up for the holidays by checking out the NBA Store’s comprehensive range of authentic products from all 30 teams that includes footwear, performance gear, lifestyle apparel, basketballs, toys and collectibles.

Regular store hours of the Glorietta branch operates from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (Sunday to Thursday) and 10:00am to 10:00pm (Friday and Saturday) while the Mega Fashion Hall operates from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm daily.

For all the latest news and updates on the NBA Store and the NBA, visit www.nba.com and follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/philsnba) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/nba_philippines).

About NBA

The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League.  The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA.com and NBA Mobile, which achieved record traffic during the 2014-15 season, as well as NBA TV.  The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 875 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league addresses important social issues by working with internationally recognized youth-serving organizations that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes.

About International Athletic Trading Company Inc.

International Athletic Trading Company, Inc., (IATC, Inc.) is a joint venture partnership between Ever Fit Holding Company, Inc. and IP Ventures, Inc. Ever Fit Holding Company, Inc. is engaged in retail and wholesale of apparel. Its stakeholders have more than 25 years of experience in retail operations in major malls located in the Philippines. It has 65 retail stores with an average selling floor area of 100 square meters. Over the past five years, it has managed to grow its business at an annual compound growth rate of 6%. The basic strength of its management lies in being able to immediately identify changing market trends and adopt strategies proactively. IP Ventures Inc. is a well-known venture & private equity group in the Philippines with investments in retail, gaming, technology, media and telecommunication. Considered as one of the pioneers of the Internet industry, IP Ventures listed the first online gaming company and first internet data center company in the country. IP Ventures also owns Netopia with over 60 outlets located in high traffic malls representing over 6,000 square meter of retail space. IP Ventures maintains a joint-venture with Philstar.com to run and operate NBA.com Philippines and has exclusive distribution rights for NBA 2K games. IP Ventures is also launching NBA 2K Online in the Philippines in 2015.

NBA Rosters Feature 100 International Players for Second Consecutive Year

The National Basketball Association (NBA) announced today that 100 international players from 37 countries and territories are on opening night rosters for the 2015-16 season, marking the second consecutive year that opening night rosters feature at least 100 international players.

There are a record 10 African and a record nine Brazilian players on opening night rosters.  Canada has the most of any country for the second straight year with a record-tying 12 NBA players.  France comes in second for the second consecutive year with 10 NBA players.  Australia features a record-tying eight players, while Croatia and Spain round out the top five with four NBA players each. 

For the second consecutive year, all 30 NBA teams feature at least one international player.  The Toronto Raptors lead the league with seven international players, while the Cleveland Cavaliers, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz each feature six.  The Atlanta Hawks, Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets field five each, while the rosters of the Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Orlando Magic each include four. 

The NBA’s 70^th season begins tonight with a doubleheader on TNT as part of Kia NBA Tip-Off 2015.  In the first game, the Cavaliers visit the Bulls at 8 p.m. ET.  The NBA Champion Golden State Warriors (three international players) then host the New Orleans Pelicans (two international players) at 10:30 p.m. ET.  The Detroit Pistons (three international players) visit the Hawks at 8 p.m. ET on NBA LEAGUE PASS.

A number of high-profile international players will make their NBA debut during opening week, including:

• Mario Hezonja (Croatia) and the Magic hosting the Washington Wizards, Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. ET on NBA LEAGUE PASS.
• Emmanuel Mudiay (Democratic Republic of the Congo) and the Nuggets visiting the Houston Rockets, Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. ET on NBA LEAGUE PASS.
• Kristaps Porzingis (Latvia) and the Knicks taking on the Bucks in Milwaukee, Wednesday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. ET on NBA LEAGUE PASS.

NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories.  The league has established a major international presence, with games and programming available in 215 countries and territories and 47 languages and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on six continents. 

Below please find the full list of international players on 2015-16 opening night rosters (active and inactive):

Country	Full Name	Team
Argentina	Pablo Prigioni	Los Angeles Clippers
Argentina	Manu Ginobili	San Antonio Spurs
Argentina	Luis Scola	Toronto Raptors
Australia	Cameron Bairstow	Chicago Bulls
Australia	Matthew Dellavedova	Cleveland Cavaliers
Australia	Kyrie Irving	Cleveland Cavaliers
Australia	Aron Baynes	Detroit Pistons
Australia	Andrew Bogut	Golden State Warriors
Australia	Patty Mills	San Antonio Spurs
Australia	Dante Exum	Utah Jazz
Australia	Joe Ingles	Utah Jazz
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Jusuf Nurkic	Denver Nuggets
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Mirza Teletovic	Phoenix Suns
Brazil	Tiago Splitter	Atlanta Hawks
Brazil	Cristiano Felicio	Chicago Bulls
Brazil	Anderson Varejao	Cleveland Cavaliers
Brazil	Leandro Barbosa	Golden State Warriors
Brazil	Marcelo Huertas	Los Angeles Lakers
Brazil	Bruno Caboclo	Toronto Raptors
Brazil	Lucas Nogueira	Toronto Raptors
Brazil	Raul Neto	Utah Jazz
Brazil	Nene	Washington Wizards
Cameroon	Luc Mbah a Moute	Los Angeles Clippers
Cameroon	Joel Embiid	Philadelphia 76ers
Canada	Kelly Olynyk	Boston Celtics
Canada	Tristan Thompson	Cleveland Cavaliers
Canada	Dwight Powell	Dallas Mavericks
Canada	Joel Anthony	Detroit Pistons
Canada	Robert Sacre	Los Angeles Lakers
Canada	Tyler Ennis	Milwaukee Bucks
Canada	Andrew Wiggins	Minnesota Timberwolves
Canada	Andrew Nicholson	Orlando Magic
Canada	Nik Stauskas	Philadelphia 76ers
Canada	Anthony Bennett	Toronto Raptors
Canada	Cory Joseph	Toronto Raptors
Canada	Trey Lyles	Utah Jazz
Cape Verde	Walter Tavares	Atlanta Hawks
Congo	Serge Ibaka	Oklahoma City Thunder
Croatia	Bojan Bogdanovic	Brooklyn Nets
Croatia	Damjan Rudez	Minnesota Timberwolves
Croatia	Mario Hezonja	Orlando Magic
Croatia	Duje Dukan	Sacramento Kings
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Emmanuel Mudiay	Denver Nuggets
Democratic Republic of the Congo	Bismack Biyombo	Toronto Raptors
Dominican Republic	Al Horford	Atlanta Hawks
Dominican Republic	Luis Montero	Portland Trail Blazers
France	Nicolas Batum	Charlotte Hornets
France	Joffrey Lauvergne	Denver Nuggets
France	Ian Mahinmi	Indiana Pacers
France	Damien Inglis	Milwaukee Bucks
France	Alexis Ajinca	New Orleans Pelicans
France	Kevin Seraphin	New York Knicks
France	Evan Fournier	Orlando Magic
France	Boris Diaw	San Antonio Spurs
France	Tony Parker	San Antonio Spurs
France	Rudy Gobert	Utah Jazz
Georgia	Zaza Pachulia	Dallas Mavericks
Germany	Dennis Schroder	Atlanta Hawks
Germany	Dirk Nowitzki	Dallas Mavericks
Germany	Tibor Pleiss	Utah Jazz
Greece	Giannis Antetokounmpo	Milwaukee Bucks
Israel	Omri Casspi	Sacramento Kings
Italy	Andrea Bargnani	Brooklyn Nets
Italy	Danilo Gallinari	Denver Nuggets
Italy	Marco Belinelli	Sacramento Kings
Latvia	Kristaps Porzingis	New York Knicks
Lithuania	Donatas Motiejunas	Houston Rockets
Lithuania	Jonas Valanciunas	Toronto Raptors
Montenegro	Nikola Mirotic	Chicago Bulls
Montenegro	Nikola Pekovic	Minnesota Timberwolves
Montenegro	Nikola Vucevic	Orlando Magic
New Zealand	Steven Adams	Oklahoma City Thunder
Nigeria	Festus Ezeli	Golden State Warriors
Poland	Marcin Gortat	Washington Wizards
Puerto Rico	J.J. Barea	Dallas Mavericks
Russia	Sergey Karasev	Brooklyn Nets
Russia	Sasha Kaun	Cleveland Cavaliers
Russia	Timofey Mozgov	Cleveland Cavaliers
Senegal