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The Pacers and Nuggets will play a regular-season game in London
This season’s NBA Global Games slate will once again feature a regular-season contest in London, with the Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets getting tapped to head across the pond and square off at O2 Arena on Jan. 12, 2017.
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Here it is people… @nuggets will take on @Pacers in London in January #NBALondon pic.twitter.com/hclvqlbiIj
— NBA UK (@NBAUK) July 28, 2016
“We are thrilled to return for our seventh regular-season game in London,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “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.”
While Indiana has played preseason contests in China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Germany and Spain, this marks the first time that the Pacers have headed overseas for regular-season duty … and, as it happens, they’ll be following in the footsteps of their NFL counterpart, the Indianapolis Colts, who’ll take on the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley Stadium in October. From the Pacers’ statement:
“The Indiana Pacers are excited and really look forward to playing in London,” said Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird. “It’s not only exciting for our players, but our franchise. It’s a great opportunity for more NBA exposure overseas and we’re very pleased for the Pacers to be part of that exposure.” […]
“I’m really excited and thankful the NBA is allowing us to reach out to our fans in London,” said Pacers three-time All-Star Paul George. “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.”
The chance to watch George, one of the stars of the U.S. men’s national basketball team heavily favored to win gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro next month, figures to be one of the signature draws for the London audience. It’s the Nuggets’ roster, though, that features plenty of European flair, led by Italian scorer Danilo Gallinari, a pair of talented Southeastern European centers in Serbia’s Nikola Jokic and Bosnia’s Jusuf Nurkic, and Frenchmen Joffrey Lauvergne and Axel Toupane. Denver also features talented young guards Emmanuel Mudiay, Gary Harris and 2016 first-round pick Jamal Murray, as well as power forward Kenneth Faried, who won gold as a member of Team USA at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.
“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,” Gallinari said in a statement. “Our entire team and organization are looking forward to this opportunity to showcase our league to fans overseas.”
This will be the NBA’s seventh regular-season game in London. Last year’s edition saw the Toronto Raptors knock off the Orlando Magic; games from earlier years have featured the New York Knicks, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey/Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons, making the Nuggets the first Western Conference team ever to make the trip for a “home” game far, far away from home.
The 2017 Global Games calendar will also once again include a return to Mexico City. The Phoenix Suns will play “host” to both the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs in mid-January, marking the first time ever that the NBA has played two regular-season games in Mexico.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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