Question: How do you know that the NBA regular season is about to begin?
Answer: There’s a lot of buzz worldwide about the NBA pre-season including the Global Games.
The NBA Global Games are a series of NBA games played outside of the United States and Canada where NBA teams play against fellow NBA squads or foreign ball clubs.
The first official overseas game featuring an NBA team was played on Sept. 7, 1978 when the Washington Bullets traveled to Israel to take on Maccabi Tel Aviv in an exhibition game. More games would be played across Europe and the Soviet Union until 1988. In 1990, the first regular season NBA Games outside the United States were held in Tokyo featuring the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz.
With the league expanding its international footprint, the NBA Global Games have been staged in various parts of the world including Spain, England, Brazil, Istanbul, Italy, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and the Philippines. The NBA and SM staged the first-ever NBA preseason game in the Philippines between the Houston Rockets and the Indiana Pacers on Oct. 10, 2013. Since 2004, thirteen NBA teams have played in Greater China specifically in Beijing, Guangzhou, Macao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Taipei.
The 10th edition of NBA Global Games China, featuring the New Orleans Pelicans and the Houston Rockets, will be staged in Shanghai at the Mercedes-Benz Arena on Oct. 9, followed by a rematch in Beijing on Oct. 12 at The LeSports Center. This will be the Rockets’ fourth trip to Greater China following visits in 2004, 2010 and 2013.
NBA Global Games China 2016 will feature a variety of off-court activities, including the fifth Fan Appreciation Day presented by Dongfeng Nissan on Oct. 7 in Shanghai, providing thousands of fans with the chance to participate in on-court games and watch the Pelicans and Rockets in open practice. The league will also conduct NBA Cares and Jr. NBA community events and league partners will host interactive fan activities.
This year’s batch of Jr. NBA and Jr. WNBA All-Stars will watch their favorite Pelicans and Rockets players in Shanghai along with other Jr. NBA All-Stars from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Philippines 2016 All-Stars is composed of Kai Zachary Sotto, Tracy Carl Dadang, Fritz Felix Valencia, Harold Alarcon, Julian Jugo, Miguel Tan, Andrei Lechoncito, Rhic Gatuz, Jearico Nunez, Isaiah Blanco Hontiveros, Rozie Amatong, Florence Jill Talas, Aloha Marie Betanio, Maria Cecilia Quelenderino and Darle Regasajo.
Local celebrity Gerald Anderson and #ShootLikeTheNBA winners Kat Tan and Paolo Miguel Bernardo will also travel to Shanghai to watch the NBA Global Games.
About the 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 games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 49 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 2015-16 season featured 100 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, NBA.com and the NBA App, which achieved record viewership and traffic during the 2015-16 season. The NBA has created one of the largest social media communities in the world, with more than one billion 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.
*This is Press Release
