The NBA announced Thursday that the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers will play a January 2017 regular season game in London. It will be the seventh regular season game played across the pond and the first for either franchise.
The NBA has become a global game. The rise of the league across the globe has made the league expand its regular season game sites to the United Kingdom for the past four seasons. For the fifth straight year, the association will be taking its talents over to London.
According to NBA.com, “The league reaches 215 countries and territories in 49 languages, and NBA merchandise is for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of last season featured 100 international players from 37 countries and territories.”
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The league announced Thursday that the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers will play a January 2017 regular season game in London. It will be the seventh regular season game played across the pond and the first for either franchise.
In a press release sent out by the Denver Nuggets, a quote from NBA commissioner Adam Silver said, “We are thrilled to return for our seventh regular-season game in London. With almost 25 percent of players in the NBA born outside of the United States, we are seeing firsthand the global growth of our game, which has never been more popular in the U.K.”
Nuggets leading scorer Danilo Gallinari said, “It will be a true honor and a great experience to represent both the Nuggets and the NBA in London as part of the NBA Global Games in 2017. Our entire team and organization are looking forward to this opportunity to showcase our league to fans overseas.”
Olympian and All-Star Pacer swingman Paul George is also excited about the game, adding, “I’m really excited and thankful the NBA is allowing us to reach out to our fans in London. This is great exposure for our team and our franchise. I think it will be a great experience for us and the fans in attendance.”
Cheers, #NBALondon!
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) July 28, 2016
This game is going to be awesome. #Nuggetshttps://t.co/A6qnagssQU
Last season’s game, also in London’s O2 arena, was a 106-103 victory for the Toronto Raptors over the Orlando Magic.
Next season’s matchup pits a team rising back to contender status in Indiana and a young team in the middle of a rebuild searching for stability and an identity.
The Pacers added Thaddeus Young, Al Jefferson and All-Star point guard Jeff Teague to a roster coming off a 45-win season and a playoff appearance, where they took the second-seeded Toronto Raptors to the seven games in the first round.
The Nuggets were a 33-win team last season and added no free agents but several rookies to a deep roster of misfits. Denver added Jamal Murray, Malik Beasley and Juancho Hernangomez during the draft while re-signing Mike Miller and Darrell Arthur.
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The matchup between a healthy ( fingers crossed) Gallinari and Paul George will surely bring entertainment to the overseas fans. There’s also sure to be some excitement when two of the league’s brightest second-year players, All-Rookie selections Myles Turner and Nikola Jokic, bang it out down low.