WASHINGTON, DC – The Washington Wizards announced today that the team will travel to Brazil during the 2013 preseason to take on the Chicago Bulls on October 12 as part of the NBA’s Global Games initiative. This will be the first-ever NBA game played in Brazil. The host city will be Rio de Janeiro.
Wizards center Nene is a Brazilian native who was born in the city of Sao Carlos. He has established a foundation in his home town to build a youth center providing educational and athletic resources to underprivileged children in the surrounding community.
“I am very proud to represent the Wizards organization and the NBA in my home country of Brazil next October,” said Nene. “I look forward to returning home as a part of the NBA’s Global Games.”
The Wizards have previously played overseas preseason games in the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Mexico and Spain.
The NBA has played games internationally for more than three decades and was the first American professional sports league to stage regular-season games outside of North America with two games in Tokyo in 1990. In January, the league staged its third regular-season game in London featuring a sold-out game between the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks, which marked the NBA’s fastest sell out at The O2. To date, the NBA has staged 138 preseason and regular-season games in 18 countries and territories across Europe, the Americas and Asia since 1978.