Throughout the Nets’ history, the club has always been willing to pack its bags and put on a show for fans across the globe.
The team has visited England, Japan, Mexico, China, France, Italy and Israel, playing games in 12 cities across those countries. Now, the team is back abroad in Mexico City to face the Thunder and the Heat. With the NBA continuing to want to increase its global reach, commissioner Adam Silver is thankful that Brooklyn is always a willing participant to the cause. “The Nets are usually the first to raise their hands to go internationally. They’re usually very eager,” Silver told the New York Post. “They’ve been to China with us, they’ve been to London and now Mexico City. I credit team president Brett Yormark, who seems particularly interested extending the Brooklyn Nets brand globally.”The team actually played in the NBA’s first-ever international regular season game back in 2011, a dramatic 137-136 win over the Raptors that likely inspired some new NBA fans at London’s O2 arena. With the NBA’s only foreign ownership group led by Mikhail Prokhorov and a general manager who hails from New Zealand in Sean Marks, it makes sense why the Nets want to draw interest from fans all over the world. ““[They’re] eager with European owners, two Russians — Mikhail Prokhorov and Dmitry Razumov — who understand firsthand the international interest in our league,” Silver said. “The only ownership group outside North America and a team president engaged in brand-building results in being very eager for these type of trips.”