NBA To Host 36 International Events across Six Continents.

NEW YORK -- League Conducts Largest Number of International Events Culminating with Russia Trip and First-Ever NBA China Games

The NBA will conduct 36 international events across six continents between June and November of 2004, the largest number ever for the league. The schedule includes NBA community activities, joint events with 30 of the league's global and international marketing and event partners, player appearances, fan tournaments, coaching clinics, USA Basketball European Tours, a preseason game in Russia and the first-ever NBA China Games.

"As basketball's popularity continues to grow globally, we look for opportunities to bring the NBA experience closer to fans, players and new audiences around the world," said Heidi Ueberroth, Executive Vice President, Global Media Properties and Marketing Partnerships. "These international events and activities provide a terrific platform for the NBA and its partners to promote the game and its universal connection."

Following are some of the international events and activities:

Fan Events

Asia

--The second annual Coke-NBA Jam Tour, which will feature non-stop basketball entertainment, interactive events and exhibits, as well as on-court activities, will travel to various cities throughout China leading up to the first-ever NBA China Games.

Australia

--NBA Madness, an interactive touring event featuring NBA lifestyle attractions and tests of fundamental basketball skills, will bring its excitement to Australia for the first time this year in addition to annual stops in the Philippines and Taiwan.

Europe

--The multi-city NBA Basketball Challenge, now in its sixth year, has established itself as Europe's preeminent outdoor basketball tournament.

--In Germany, the Sprite NBA Basketball Challenge provides an opportunity for players to test their skills in competitive games is also the recruiting platform for the Sprite Dirk Nowitzki Basketball Academy (DNBA), a youth basketball program co-developed by Sprite and the NBA.

--For the first time ever, fans in France will be able to experience the Challenge with the Bouygues Telecom NBA Basketball Challenge, highlighted by the involvement of San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker. More than 12,000 players and 200,000 participants are expected to rise to the Challenge in both Germany and France.

--Budweiser NBA Basket Jam 2004, now in its second year as a touring mobile pop-a-shot competition, will expand to include the first ever Budweiser NBA Basket Jam Festival featuring a 3X3 competition, dance party and other interactive events. This year the event will tour through Barcelona, Spain and Rimini and Reggio Calabria in Italy.

North America 

--The Gatorade NBA 3x3 League, the largest collegiate basketball tournament in Mexico and the most popular NBA youth program in Latin America, recently completed its third year. There were more than 30,000 participants in each of the tournament's first two years.

--The Budweiser NBA 3x3 tournament, the premiere basketball event in Mexico, will return for its fifth year. Mexicali and Matamoros will host the tournament, and for the first time, the NBA Dancers Tour will debut as part of the event. This program will bring an authentic NBA Dance team to Mexico to judge a consumer dance team contest and perform at local retail locations, both focused on increasing female involvement with the NBA 3x3 tournament.

--NBA Jam Session, Canada's premiere hoops festival, is traveling from June to September and features basketball-themed game courts, contests and activities. NBA Hoop-It-Up, official 3X3 basketball tournament of the NBA in Canada, is currently on tour visiting eight Canadian cities from May through July.

South America 

--The NBA Brazil 3x3 Presented by Gatorade, a grassroots traveling event for fans of all ages and skill levels, will mark its second year in Sao Paulo with scheduled stops throughout Brazil.

Basketball without Borders 

Basketball without Borders, a series of basketball camps designed to bring young people together from all over Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean to promote friendship, healthy living and education, has begun in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (June 28-July 3), Treviso, Italy (July 24-27) and will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa (September 6-10). The camps, staged in conjunction with FIBA (International Basketball Federation), feature NBA players serving as coaches, including Brazilian natives Leandro Barbosa (Phoenix Suns) and Nene (Denver Nuggets), who were joined in Rio by Dallas Mavericks guard Eduardo Najera (Mexico), Boston Celtics forward-guard Jiri Welsch (Czech Republic) and Los Angeles Lakers forward Stanislav Medvedenko (Ukraine), who are leading a group in Treviso and New York Knicks center Dikembe Mutombo (Congo), who will be among ten NBA players serving as coaches in Johannesburg.

USA Basketball

The USA Basketball Men's Senior National team will play six exhibition games this summer, starting in Jacksonville, Fla., against Carlos Arroyo and the Puerto Rican National team. From there, Team USA will travel to: Cologne, Germany to play Dirk Nowitzki and Germany and the Italian National team; Belgrade to play against a host of NBA stars from Serbia & Montenegro; Istanbul, Turkey to play Mehmet Okur and Hedo Turkoglu and the rest of the Turkish National team, before competing against the world's best basketball teams in Athens this August to defend the medals they won in Sydney in 2000.

The USA Basketball Women's Senior National team will play four exhibition games this summer, leading off against a team of WNBA All-Stars in "WNBA vs. USA Basketball: The Game at Radio City" on August 5. The team will then travel to Salamanca, Spain to play Spain, France and Poland before heading off to Athens to defend the medals they won in Sydney in 2000.

NBA Preseason Games

The Utah Jazz will compete in a preseason game in Moscow on October 8 against the legendary CSKA Moscow team, winner of 35 Russian and Soviet championships, marking the first time an NBA team has played in Russia since 1988. The NBA, together with Russian native Andrei Kirilenko, is planning additional events during the late summer leading up to the game.

In addition, the preseason schedule includes the first-ever NBA China Games, scheduled to take place October 14 and 17 when the Houston Rockets and the Sacramento Kings play in Shanghai and Beijing, respectively. The NBA, along with the Chinese Basketball Association, will host the NBA-CBA Coaches Camp Presented by McDonald's, which aims to improve the level of basketball in China by training their leading coaches July 20 to August 2 in Beijing. The camp brings together some of the leading NBA coaches with 150 of the top Chinese coaches.

NBA.com, with more than half of all visits to the site coming from fans outside the United States, will provide coverage of NBA international events including photos, video highlights and various editorial features. Through NBA.com's nine language-specific international destinations fans around the world will also be able to follow various local events in multiple languages. For the NBA China Games, NBA.com/china will unveil a comprehensive section offering ticket and event information, interactive fan polls, e-mail alerts, exclusive desktop wallpaper designs, feature stories and more.

Since its founding in 1946, the NBA has truly become a global phenomenon that transcends national boundaries. With 30 teams in the United States and Canada, NBA games and related programming are broadcast to 212 countries in 42 languages; they are one of the largest suppliers of sports television and Internet programming in the world. The NBA is a recognized leader in global sports marketing with 13 offices around the world. For more information on the NBA, visit www.NBA.com.