NBA to play 2022 preseason games in Abu Dhabi

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) – The United Arab Emirates will host two NBA preseason games in 2022, the league said on Tuesday.

The NBA said on its website that two preseason games will be played in Abu Dhabi in October 2022 as the league will visit the Arabian Gulf for the first time.

"Abu Dhabi is a vibrant multicultural hub with a demonstrated track record of hosting world-class sporting events," NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said.

The top-tier basketball league has a project – the NBA Global Games – as the teams play outside the US and Canada to revive and spread the passion of NBA in other countries or continents.

In recent years Mexico City, London and Paris hosted a few NBA games in regular seasons.

As part of the project, the NBA teams last played outside the North America in January 2020 as a regular season game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Hornets was played in Paris' Accor Arena.

No NBA games have been played outside the US and Canada since then due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, 2020 and all sporting events including the 2019-20 NBA season were interrupted.