The NBA Global Games are a series of games featuring NBA teams that are played outside the United States and Canada. Its purpose is to bring teams from the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) to play games against either another NBA team or a foreign club. The games themselves are played under NBA

rules Rule or ruling may refer to: Human activity * The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power * Business rule, a rule pertaining to the structure or behavior internal to a business * School rule, a rule tha ...

, which differ slightly from the

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French language, French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. FIBA defines the rules of basketball, specifies the Basketball equipment ...

rules under which the foreign teams normally play. Court markings and dimensions also differ slightly.

History

The first official overseas game featuring an NBA team was an exhibition matchup between the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

and

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

on September 7, 1978. The then-defending champions lost 98–97 at the

Yad Eliyahu Arena Yad Eliyahu Arena, , known as the Menora Mivtachim Arena () and formerly as the Nokia Arena () for commercial reasons, is a large multi-purpose sports indoor arena that is located in southeast Tel Aviv, Israel. The arena is primarily used to host ...

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. The Bullets would play three more exhibition games the following year in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

in China, and in

Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. In 1984, a series of exhibition matches pitting the

New Jersey Nets New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA), We ...

and

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly shortened to Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Division (1967–1970), and ...

against local European clubs were held in Israel, Italy,

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

and Switzerland. Then in 1988, the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

played against the

Soviet Union national basketball team The Soviet Union men's national basketball team () was the national basketball team that represented the Soviet Union in international competitions. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the successor countries all set up their own ...

in a three-game series in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and Moscow, becoming the first NBA team to play in the Soviet Union. In 1987, the

McDonald's Championship The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's basketball competition that featured a representative of the National Basketball Association (representing North America) against champion club teams ...

was introduced. While the first edition was held in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, the following editions of the event were held in Europe, with the NBA teams emerging victorious against their European counterparts in each staging. The McDonald's Championship was discontinued in 1999. The first regular season NBA games outside North America were held in Tokyo, Japan in 1990, with the

and the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...

splitting the two-game series. Since then four other editions of the NBA Japan Games were held, with the last games being played in Saitama in 2003. In 1991, the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...

and the Washington Bullets played a preseason game in

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital and largest city of The Bahamas. It is on the island of New Providence, which had a population of 246,329 in 2010, or just over 70% of the entire population of The Bahamas. As of April 2023, the preliminary results of ...

, marking the first NBA preseason game in the Caribbean. The following year, the

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

and the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

played a preseason game in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, in the first NBA game held in Latin America. Several other preseason matches would follow in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

and

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

(under the name NBA Challenge), but it was not until 1997 that the NBA decided to hold its first regular season game in Latin America, featuring the Mavericks and the Rockets in Mexico City. While the NBA has had a history of sending teams to Europe to play against the local clubs, it was not until 1993 that the league decided to send two of its teams to Europe to play a pair of preseason matches against each other. An exhibition series between the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

and the Atlanta Hawks was held in London, United Kingdom, a precursor of what would later be called the NBA Europe Live Tour. Further games were held in Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Spain and Turkey. It was not until 2011, however, that a regular season matchup was first played in Europe. The first regular season games in London pitted the New Jersey Nets against the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

, with the Nets sweeping the two-game series. In 2004, the NBA held a pair of preseason games in Shanghai and Beijing, as part of the NBA China Games. The two-game series between the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

and the Houston Rockets also marked the homecoming of sorts for

Yao Ming Yao Ming ( zh, c=姚明; born September 12, 1980) is a Chinese basketball executive and former professional player. He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the Houston Rockets of the National Baske ...

, who as the top overall pick of the

2002 NBA draft The 2002 NBA draft was held on June 26, 2002, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden. In this draft, National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting 57 amateur college basketball players and other first-time eligible players, ...

and a perennial all-star, helped popularize the NBA in China. The China Games eventually became a regular in the NBA's preseason schedule. In 2013, the NBA decided to unify its overseas tours under one banner: the "NBA Global Games". The newly renamed event witnessed the first NBA preseason game held in

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, with the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

and the Houston Rockets facing each other in the

. In addition, a preseason game between the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays i ...

and the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

in Brazil marked the first NBA preseason match in South America. The league was scheduled to hold a pair of regular season matches in Mexico and United Kingdom, but the game in Mexico City between the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

and the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

on December 4 never started due to a generator malfunction inside the

Mexico City Arena Mexico City Arena (), marketed as Arena CDMX, is an indoor arena in Azcapotzalco, Mexico City, Mexico. It hosts concerts, sports, and other events. It officially opened on February 25, 2012. The total cost of the arena was US$300 million. The ar ...

, and was postponed to April 8, 2014, at the

Target Center Target Center is a multi-purpose arena located in Minneapolis that opened in 1990. It hosts major family shows, concerts, sporting events, graduations and private events. Target Corporation, founded and headquartered in Minneapolis since 1902, h ...

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. The 2014 NBA Global Games began in October with two

friendlies versus

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

teams

Alba Berlin Alba Berlin is a professional basketball club that is based in Berlin, Germany. The club was founded in 1991, and is today the largest German national basketball club by membership figures. Alba Berlin hosts its home games at the Uber Arena and c ...

and Fenerbahçe Ülker at Berlin and Istanbul respectively. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat played a preseason game at the

HSBC Arena HSBC Arena may refer to: * Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, known as HSBC Arena from 2008 to 2017 * KeyBank Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York, United States. Originally known as Marine Midlan ...

in Rio de Janeiro. Then the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings played two matches at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Shanghai and the

MasterCard Center The Wukesong Arena (), also known as the Cadillac Arena () for sponsorship purposes, is a multipurpose indoor arena in Beijing. It was originally built for the 2008 Summer Olympics basketball preliminaries and finals. Ground was broken on 29 M ...

in Beijing. Like the previous season, two regular season Global Games were scheduled in Mexico City and London; the Mexico City game between the Timberwolves and the Rockets on November 12 was played without incident. For the 2015–16 season, the NBA scheduled two regular season games to be played outside the United States and Canada. The first game, between the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

and the

, was scheduled to be played on December 3, 2015, at the

; the Celtics defeated the Kings 114–97. It marked the NBA's third regular-season game in Mexico City. The second game, between the

and the

, was played on January 14, 2016, at The O₂ Arena in London. It marked the NBA's sixth regular-season game in London. In October 2019, the games in China were met with backlash following

general manager

Daryl Morey Daryl Morey (born September 14, 1972) is an American basketball executive who is the president of basketball operations of the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His basketball philosophy, heavily reliant on analyt ...

's support of the

2019–2020 Hong Kong protests The 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests (also known by other names) were a series of demonstrations against the Hong Kong government's introduction of a bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in regard to extradition. It was the largest ...

over the proposed extradition bill, which Hong Kongers feared would allow mainland Chinese officials to detain them despite Hong Kong's autonomy. The

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier men's professional basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

's suspended of its relationship with the Rockets and all Houston Rockets-related items were removed from the

Tmall Tmall (), formerly Taobao Mall, is a Chinese-language website for business-to-consumer (B2C) online retail, spun off from Taobao, operated in China by Alibaba Group. It is a platform for local Chinese and international businesses to sell brand-n ...

and

JD.com JD.com, Inc., also known as JINGDONG (), formerly called 360buy,
, Retrieved 3 December 2013

sites and the team's games were removed from broadcasting on

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. ( zh, s=腾讯, p=Téngxùn) is a Chinese Multinational corporation, multinational technology Conglomerate (company), conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimed ...

. Several days later, Morey and the NBA each issued a separate statement addressing the original tweet, with Morey saying that he never intended his tweet to cause any offense and the NBA saying that it was regrettable, which resulted in backlash from American politicians who called it "a betrayal of fundamental American values". Further fallout from the tweet included the decision by

China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is the State media, national television broadcaster of China, established in 1958. CCTV is operated by the National Radio and Television Administration which reports directly to the Publicity Department of th ...

to cancel the broadcasting of two NBA preseason games, pro-Hong Kong protest demonstrations held at preseason games in the United States involving teams from the Chinese Basketball Association, the cancellation of NBA Cares community events in Shanghai, criticism by then-president

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

of the perceived double standards by the reactions of specific coaches to NBA response relative to their past criticisms of his policies, and the suspension/termination of all mainland Chinese sponsors of the NBA. The NBA eventually returned to China in 2025 after signing a five year deal to play two preseason games at

Venetian Arena The Venetian Arena (previously known as the Cotai Arena) is an indoor arena located on the premises of The Venetian Macao, on the Cotai Strip, in Macau, China. It opened in 2007 and has a seating capacity of 14,000. The facility was known as Ven ...

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. Following years of hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA Global Games returned for the 2022–23 season with two regular season matchups. The NBA Mexico City Game 2022 saw the Heat face the Spurs on December 17, 2022, at the

. The NBA Paris Game 2023 featured a matchup between the

and the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

on January 19, 2023, at the

Accor Arena Accor Arena (originally known as the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy), also known as Bercy Arena, is an indoor sports arena and List of concert halls, concert hall in the neighbourhood of Bercy, on the Boulevard de Bercy, in the 12th arrondisse ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. In November 2021, the NBA and the United Arab Emirates signed a multiyear partnership agreement. The NBA made its first trip to Abu Dhabi for two preseason games between the Atlanta Hawks and the Milwaukee Bucks in October 2022. The second time two preseason games between the Dallas Mavericks and the Minnesota Timberwolves were held, in October 2023. The NBA returned to the Etihad Arena third time for two preseason games between the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics, held on October 4 and 6, 2024. The league faced criticism from rights groups, with the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

accusing the NBA of helping the United Arab Emirates in "

sportswashing Sportswashing is a term used to describe the practice of governments, individuals, corporations, or other groups using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing. A form of propaganda, sportswashing can be accomplished through hosting ...

" its poor human rights record. On September 30, 2024, HRW sent a letter to the NBA, asking it to ensure that the preseason games do not become a distraction, alleging the United Arab Emirates of using major sporting events to polish its image. A group of human rights organizations also called for the NBA to cancel the Abu Dhabi games, citing the country's involvement in the ongoing Sudan crisis.

List of preseason games

List of regular season games

References

External links

Official NBA Global website

{{NBA vs FIBA EuroLeague Recurring sporting events established in 2006 NBA vs FIBA Basketball competitions in Europe

History

List of preseason games

List of regular season games

See also

References

External links