NBA pre-season games in India

1 min read
NBA

Mumbai: The NBA is all set to make its Indian entry with the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings playing two pre-season games in October this year, at the NSCI Dome in Mumbai. The Kings, under the leadership of the NBA’s first Indian-born majority owner and Mumbai-native Vivek Ranadive, are based in Sacramento, California while Indianapolis is home to the Pacers.

Pacers president and Chief Operating Officer Rick Fuson is thrilled about the trip. “It’s exciting to be part of the first NBA games in India. It means a lot for a lot of us,” he told reporters from India ahead of the season game between his side and the Milwaukee Bucks here.

“I have been working on this for over three years, been in touch with Vivek Ranadive and NBA officials. We have been to India and seen the vibrancy for basketball in the country. India has a good history and understanding of the game and has embraced it. We look forward to those two games. It will be a great Saturday and Sunday,” he added.

“In our travelling party, we will have an entertainment group as well, whether it’s our dance team, the dunk one or our mascot Boomer,” Fuson elaborated.

For Fuson, there’s a bit of person touch to the India trip as well. “We have a lot of Indian connect here in Indiana — a company that has moved its office here… and I have a Mahindra tractor,” he said, adding, “The governor of our state has been in India many, many times in terms of the trade between our countries. I think there would be opportunities for not only basketball but also discussions related to trade, economic and cultural development between us.”

Asked if this would be a one-off affair, Fuson was non-committal. “I have to believe that when you have a first, there’s got to be second, third, fourth and fifth as well. We’ve played in China, Philipphines and London,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Kashmir Monitor staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

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