Abu Dhabi will host two preseason games on October 6 and 8 between the Bucks and the Hawks, 23 years after the NBA’s last visit to the Middle East. Yes, the Great League is taking a new trip to the sun, a symbol of its international strategy. Be careful not to forget the parasol and the foggers.
After recent announcements of the NBA’s return to Japan for two games between Warriors and Wizards, Adam Silver continues to look overseas. He has just announced – via a press release – that two preparation matches for the next season will be held in the heart of the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. These two meetings will pit the Hawks of Trae Young and John Collins against the 2021 champions, the Bucks of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton. NBA fans located in the Middle East will therefore have the opportunity to see two heavyweight teams compete before the start of the serious things at the end of October. This announcement comes as the Great League has already been running basketball development programs in the Arabian Peninsula for several years: youth championships, NBA2K competitions, tryouts for camps Basketball Without Borders. The announcement of these two matches is in a way the reward for the perennial hype around the orange ball in the UAE. The country is also no neophyte in the organization of major sporting events. For example, F1 completes its championship there every year and many summer football tournaments take place at the foot of the skyscrapers of Abu Dhabi.
In terms of the stakes, we will obviously not be shooting on an NBA Finals meeting, but the preseason games are very important to iron out the last details before embarking on a hellish six-month marathon. And of course, since we don’t play every four mornings so far from the United States, it will be necessary to set fire to the Etihad Arena. The room has 18,000 seats, enough to accommodate the time of two meetings an audience undoubtedly conquered by the ultra long distance shots of Trae and the insane dunks of Giannis. This is not the first time that the NBA is exported to this region of the world, since several meetings were organized in the 90s against Israeli teams near Tel Aviv. The last passage of a Great League team in the sector dates back to 1999 with the Heat. As you will have understood, this will be the first time that two teams from the NBA will face each other in the Middle East. The party promises to be beautiful, and we will of course be in front of the matches to witness all that.
The NBA has no borders, and it proves it once again by organizing games far from its country of origin. The one constant in all of this? It’s to delight fans around the world, and offer them the opportunity to attend a basketball game in the mythical North American league.
Source: NBA press release
