The NBA in Africa: First Game to take place on August 1

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) announced that tickets for the NBA’s first game in Africa will go on sale on June 18. The NBA Africa Game 2015 will take place on August 1 at Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Tickets will be available at computicket.com.

The game will feature a Team Africa vs. Team World format and be played in support of Boys & Girls Clubs of South Africa, SOS Children’s Villages Association of South Africa and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The game will air live in Africa on SuperSport.

Team Africa, comprised of players from Africa and second-generation African players, will feature team captain and two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng of the Miami Heat (South Sudan), Oklahoma City Thunder’s Serge Ibaka (Congo-Brazzaville) and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ Gorgui Dieng (Senegal).

Team World, comprised of players from the rest of the world, will feature team captain and eight-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul of the Los Angeles Clippers (U.S.), Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards (U.S.) and Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets (U.S.).

Full team rosters will be announced soon.

The game will take place following the 13th edition of Basketball without Borders (BWB) Africa, the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development program that has reached 1 000 campers from 31 African countries since 2003. Basketball without Borders Africa will be held from July 29 – August 1 at the American International School in Johannesburg.

The NBA has a long history in Africa with more than 35 players from the continent featured on NBA rosters since Hakeem Olajuwon was drafted in 1984. Through NBA Cares, 58 places to live, learn or play have been created in Africa, and Basketball without Borders Africa has been held 12 times on the continent. The league opened an African headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2010 and recently launched Jr. NBA leagues in Mozambique and Uganda as part of comprehensive grassroots programs across the continent. The NBPA Foundation is hosting three U.S. high school student leaders to join the professional players in this basketball and goodwill trip.

For more information, fans can visit nba.com/africa; Facebook.com/Africa and Twitter @NBA_Africa. Fans can also download NBA Game Time, the official app of the NBA for news and updates, scores, stats, schedules, videos and more. NBA games, highlights and special programming are available on SuperSport.

About the NBA: The NBA is a global sports and media business built around 3 professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League. The league has established a major international presence with offices in 13 markets worldwide, games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages, and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents. NBA rosters at the start of the 2014-15 season featured a record 101 international players from 37 countries and territories. NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, which is available in 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which recorded 26.9 billion page views during the 2013-14 season, with more than half of all visitors originating from outside of North America.

The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 800 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms. Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $242 million to charity, completed more than 3 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 915 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.

About the NBPA: The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) is the union for current professional basketball players in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Established in 1954, the NBPA mission is to ensure that the rights of NBA players are protected and that every conceivable measure is taken to assist players in maximizing their opportunities and achieving their goals, both on and off the court. For more information, go to www.nbpa.com.

Source: National Basketball Association