LeBron James Really Wants to Play In an NBA Africa Game
"I know it's high on his list of priorities," says NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Lebron James has been quite busy as of late. Within the last month, the basketball superstar made the move to the LA Lakers, opened a school for at-risk youth in his hometown of Akron, Ohio and became the subject of one of Donald Trump's inane Twitter outbursts. Now the NBA megastar has expressed a new goal: playing in an NBA Africa game, reports ESPN News.
The third edition of the NBA Africa games went down last weekend in Johannesburg, and proved to be a memorable event as Team World claimed another victory against Team Africa, with former NBA legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Dikembe Mutombo in attendance, and a performance from South African rap star Cassper Nyovest.
Ahead of the game on Saturday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver discussed the future of the Africa games and shared news about getting basketball's biggest star involved in the action. He confirmed that despite his increasingly busy schedule, LeBron James would "very much like" to participate in an NBA Africa game in the future and has made it a priority.
Both Amadou (Gallo Fall, NBA managing director for Africa) and I have spoken directly to LeBron James and he has stated that he would very much like to come to Africa and be part of the game," said the NBA Commissioner. "I will say on his behalf that he has an extraordinarily complicated schedule, even in the off-season, and he is someone who for the last eight years has played in the NBA finals.
So his season has gone from September to late June, so he has a very short break. During those summers he also often plays for the national team, Olympic Games, things like that. I know it's high on his list of priorities. I don't want to put undue pressure on him, but I'm sure that at some point he will make the trip.
He also stated that basketball icon Michael Jordan is interested in attending the games as well. "Michael Jordan is someone we have talked to as well, and he is fascinated by the growth of the NBA business in Africa."
It seems the NBA is making major moves in Africa. Silver went on to discuss the league's plans to expand by developing a Pan-African league.
As for questions about egular season games taking place on the continent, Silver said Nigeria would be at the top destination for such games to take place.