We have extracted some key facts and figures from the Warriors and Wizards first tour to Japan
The NBA Japan Games 2022 will feature the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors and the Washington Wizards playing two preseason games on Friday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. JST at Saitama Super Arena. Apart from these two games, NBA Japan Games will celebrate the basketball game and display the convergence of the NBA and its culture for a top-notch fan experience.
NBA Japan Games 2022 portrays some thoughtful facts and figures:
- It will be the first trip to Japan for both the Warriors and Wizards in NBA Japan Games 2022.
- After the then-reigning champion Toronto Raptors participated in The NBA Japan Games 2019, the Warriors will be the second NBA champion to play in Japan.
- Richard Hamilton, Tim Hardaway, and Dikembe Mutombo, three NBA luminaries, will take part in the NBA Japan Games Saturday Night 2022. presented by Nissan & Rakuten.
- Six international players representing six different nations are on the combined rosters of the Warriors and Wizards for training camp:
- When the Wizards selected Rui Hachimura ninth overall in the 2019 NBA Draft, he became the first-ever Japanese player to be chosen in the first round.
- A record 15 marketing partners are supporting this year’s NBA Japan Games and related events: Rakuten, Nissan, 2K, American Express, Fellaz, Hennessy, Hokka, Instyle Group, NEC, Nike, Saitama Super Arena, SAP, ServiceNow, Sun Chlorella, and Tissot.
- This season will be the NBA’s 15th and 16th games in Japan. The NBA’s first regular-season match played outside of the United States took place in Japan in 1990, making it the first American sports league to play a regular-season match abroad.
- Since 2010, more than 20 NBA players, including Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, and Bradley Beal of the Warriors, have traveled to Japan to take part in fan events, teach young people how to play the game, and promote basketball there.
- A combined 22 All-Star appearances among the players participating in the NBA Japan Games 2022.
- Warriors and Wizards have played a combined 22 games outside North America before heading into the NBA Japan Games 2022.
- For an NBA Cares Special Olympics Clinic featuring Warriors players and coaches, Special Olympics Nippon and the NBA welcomed over 30 Special Olympics competitors.
- Since the 1988–89 season, when NBA games and programming began airing in Japan, the league has been present there for 34 years.
- On September 28, the NBA held a Her Time to Play clinic at Minato Sports Center, giving 60 young female players the chance to learn from Naho Miyoshi, Monica Rogers, and Katrina Hibbert, who are currently members of the Japanese Women’s National Team and the WNBA.
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