The NBA will hold its Africa exhibition game in the South African capital of Pretoria on Aug. 4, with All Stars DeMar DeRozan and Joel Embiid lined up to
play.
The announcement for this year’s exhibition was made on Thursday in Johannesburg by the NBA’s vice president and managing director for Africa,
Amadou Gallo Fall.
The NBA has held two Africa games previously, its debut game on the continent in 2015 and then again last year . They were both in Johannesburg, South
Africa’s biggest city and commercial hub, and pitted a team of American and
international NBA stars against a team of NBA players from Africa, or with
African heritage.
This time, Team World and Team Africa will play at the 8 Jimmy
Garoppolo Jersey 49ers ,500-seat Sun Arena in Time Square as the NBA
pushes out to a new city, albeit only about 40 miles up the highway from
Johannesburg.
DeRozan, who plays for the Toronto Raptors, will take part along with Dallas Mavericks forward Harrison Barnes and San Antonio Spurs forward Rudy Gay on the
Team World roster. Embiid, who plays for the Philadelphia 76ers, will play for
Team Africa along with Portland Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu and
Orlando Magic center Bismack Biyombo.
Embiid, who is from Cameroon, was a product of the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders development camp in South Africa in 2011.
It’ll be DeRozan’s first visit to Africa.
”Some of my teammates played in the previous two games and I have heard a lot of great things about South Africa and our fans
there Cheap Customized
Indianapolis Colts Jerseys ,” he said.
The NBA has sought to capture a new market in Africa over recent years and Commissioner Adam Silver made the trip to Johannesburg for the inaugural Africa
game in 2015. Then, Silver said the NBA was looking to hold a pre-season and
ultimately a regular-season game in Africa.
The NBA also opened an academy in Senegal last year, the first in Africa.
Basketball is generally more popular in West Africa than South Africa, but South Africa’s sports facilities – the best on the continent – have drawn the
NBA to the country.
The two previous Africa games in South Africa drew crowds of about 5,000 in 2015 and just over 7,000 last year.
The full rosters for this year’s game would be announced in coming weeks, the NBA said.
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Provisional rosters:
Team World: DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors), Harrison Barnes (Dallas Mavericks) Youth
Taven Bryan Jersey , Danilo Gallinari (Los Angeles Clippers), Rudy Gay
(San Antonio Spurs), Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks), Hassan Whiteside (Miami
Heat).
Team Africa: Joel Embiid (Philadelphia 76ers), Al-Farouq Aminu (Portland Trail Blazers), Bismack Biyombo (Orlando Magic), Cheick Diallo (New Orleans
Pelicans), Evan Fournier (Orlando
Magic) Youth New England Patriots
Jerseys , Serge Ibaka (Toronto Raptors), Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
(Philadelphia 76ers), Pascal Siakam (Toronto Raptors).
.
