The Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards will play two 2022 preseason games in Japan, the NBA announced on Monday.
The games will be played on Friday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 2 at Saitama Super Arena. This will mark the first Japan visit for both teams and the 15th and 16th NBA games ever in the country.
“We are honored to tip off the 2022-23 NBA season in Japan. Participating in the upcoming NBA Japan Games gives us great optimism about the continued growth of basketball around the world and the opportunity to unite through a shared love of the game,” said Warriors President & Chief Operating Officer Brandon Schneider, via NBA.com.
The NBA and Rakuten Group, Inc. announced today that the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards will play two preseason games in Japan in 2022. The games will take place Friday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 2 at Saitama Super Arena More ➡ https://t.co/PQxUWuIruq pic.twitter.com/yomQSCEb8E — NBA (@NBA) March 15, 2022
The 2022 NBA Japan Games will mark Golden State’s ninth and 10th games played outside of North America. Japan will become the sixth country outside of the United States to host a Warriors game (Canada, China, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain).
The Warriors last participated in the NBA Global Games in China in 2017 with a pair of preseason games in Shenzhen and Shanghai.
Between 1990 and 2003, the NBA staged 12 regular season games in Japan in Saitama City, Tokyo and Yokohama.
The game between the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz in Tokyo on Nov. 2, 1990 marked the first regular season game played outside of North America by a U.S. sports league.
The NBA last played games in Japan in 2019, when Rakuten and the NBA partnered to bring the Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors to the country for two preseason games.
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