National Basketball Association Regular-Season Game In Africa In The Offing Says Adam Silver

Yet it was the prospect of appearing before a few thousand people that gave him butterflies. “I want to see how the infrastructure is and how it is ran”.

“To be able to come here and impact these kids’ lives is an honour but I think by the time I leave here they would have had an impact on my life”.

“The more versatility you have, the more you can really mix and match”, he said. CP3 will be joined by Evan Turner (Celtics, USA), Marcus Smart (Celtics, USA), Bradley Beal (Wizards, USA), Kenneth Faried (Nuggets, USA), Jeff Green (Grizzlies, USA), Marc Gasol (Memphis, USA), Pau Gasol (Bulls, Spain), e Nikola Vucevic (Magic, Montenegro).

Gregg Popovich will be leading the African side, while Brad Stevens will be the coach for Team World and that is made of many stars. Bigs who can defend the rim, check.

“We’ve definitely had discussions”, he said. “I was happy to see the the joy it brought to faces”. But now, he says, the infrastructure surrounding youth basketball has undergone a “top-to-bottom” transformation. Basketball, as a global game, has grown so much and that might be doubly true in Africa. The potential audience is big. Vučević, a Montenegrin, scored six points and hauled in seven boards as Team World edged Team Africa by a 101-97 final.

That’s Dikembe Mutombo and Hakeem Olajuwon checking into the game at 49 and 52 years-old, respectively.

As he’s wandered around Johannesburg, South Africa this week, mingling with the locals, participating in basketball camps and enjoying a little sightseeing, Al-Farouq Aminu has encountered a common greeting.

Not everything hit the right note.

Boris Diaw, who plays in San Antonio Spurs, from France, but whose parents are from Senegal, while Gorgui Dieng plays with Minnesota Timberwolves is from Senegal. He is not afraid to get in his opponents’ faces and he promised high intensity for this exhibition game.

JOHANNESBURG – The National Basketball Association put on a show in its first exhibition game in Africa on Saturday – starting with a dunk straight from the tip-off by Luc Mbah a Moute. He played volleyball growing up, started basketball at 15, played at Kansas and went third in the 2014 draft.

“Part of why I’m here is to continue to investigate new facilities”, Silver said.

The NBA is in Africa, and a practice session at a downtown Johannesburg arena on Friday, the day before the NBA’s first exhibition game on this continent, was dominated not by basketball but by talk of who is going where and doing what off the court.

That had the crowd roaring early at Ellis Park Arena. It is adjacent to the stadium where South Africa won the rugby World Cup 20 years ago with Nelson Mandela famously pulling on the Springbok shirt. “Now to be a part of a workforce coming again to play for Africa”.