The National Basketball Association (NBA) will return to London on January 17th 2013 featuring the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks.
This game follows the league’s first-ever regular-season games in Europe which was held in March 2011 between the Toronto Raptors and New Jersey Nets. The London O2 will host its seventh NBA game since 2007, which include four preseason games and this fixture being their third regular-season game in Europe.
The Knicks are led by 2012 Olympic gold medalists Carmelo Anthony and Tyson Chandler, six-time NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire, and veterans Marcus Camby and Jason Kidd who joined the team this summer. The Detroit Pistons feature a young and exciting team highlighted by center Greg Monroe, NBA All-Rookie first team selection Brandon Knight, NBA All-Rookie second team selection Rodney Stuckey, and centre Andre Drummond. David Stern, the NBA Commissioner admitted that having fixtures in Europe provide extraordinary opportunities to further the game’s growth and development. London is still in the headlines from the 2012 Olympics and it does no harm whatsoever having a NBA game in London along with the recent announcement from broadcasters Sky Sports that they will show live games.
The coverage starts with the game between the Pistons and Knicks next week and it will be the first NBA game played in the UK to be shown live on Sky Sports. Tickets are available here.
