UK basketball social media has been abuzz in the past few days. There was rumblings of “a big announcement” which got people believing that the NBA is giving the UK an NBA team, which personally I would love, not just because I could go to games but would also mean Seattle could come back to even up the numbers! #BringBackSeattle!
But no. Of course not. Life isn’t that perfect, but I think I can speak for my UK NBA fans that an annual game in London is always good. The big announcement? The Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets are catching a plane to London to play at the o2 in January.
The announcement was made via Facebook Live from the NBA’s European headquarters in London with Nuggets guard Gary Harris in attendance. The team logos were revealed in a specially commissioned piece of street art in Stockwell, London.
Tickets for the game will go on sale at the beginning of the 2016-17 NBA season. Fans in the U.K. will be able to watch the game live on BT Sport, while fans in Europe will be able to view it through the NBA’s official local broadcast partners.
The game will mark both teams’ first trip to the U.K. and the league’s seventh regular-season game in London.
Now I don’t want to sound greedy. But why only one game a year? NFL UK fans get several games and they don’t have an 82 game schedule? Also, NBA games in London are much more affordable. You have to fork out a months rent to go to an NFL game in the UK. To hell with that!
But I’m happy that they continue to give us a game, and with two teams slowly on the rise. The Nuggets are young and the Pacers are rallying behind their talisman Paul George. It’ll certainly be a good one.
