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Brooklyn Nets and Global Fashion Designer Phillip Lim Collaborate on Exclusive Chinese New Year Merchandise

BROOKLYN (Jan. 20, 2022) - The Brooklyn Nets will commemorate the Chinese New Year on Tuesday, Jan. 25 when the team hosts the Los Angeles Lakers at Barclays Center, with the celebration presented by Panda Express®. To mark the occasion, global fashion designer Phillip Lim has collaborated with the Nets on an exclusive merchandise line - the first time the designer has worked with a sports team. The design is a nod to 2022 as the year of the Tiger and items from the collection will be sold exclusively in the Nets’ team store at Barclays Center, Brooklyn Fanatics, beginning Jan. 25. Photos of the line – including James Harden in the crewneck sweatshirt - can be viewed/downloaded here

The Nets’ collaboration with Lim and his namesake brand, 3.1 Phillip Lim, was born from the strength of community and the intersectionality of different cultures. The Chinese New Year game is part of the Nets Unite platform which seeks to build unity, celebrate culture, and foster equity by amplifying the rich traditions of our diverse community. 

The Nets and Lim share many synergies, including a commitment to supporting and uplifting communities in need. In 2020, Nets owners Joe Tsai and Clara Wu Tsai launched their Social Justice Fund, committing $50 million to support the BIPOC community in Brooklyn, and Joe is a founding board member of The Asian American Foundation. In response to the rise in hate crimes against the Asian community in 2021, Lim launched a GoFundMe which raised $7 million in aid for victims, AAPI small businesses and various grassroots organizations. 

“Connecting with the Nets over our shared values of community and culture, and turning it into a celebration, felt very natural to us,” said Lim. “It is about coming together as one and venturing into the year of the Tiger, fiercely united.” 

“The Brooklyn Nets are thrilled to celebrate and pay homage to the rich cultural history and traditions associated with Chinese New Year,” said John Abbamondi, CEO of BSE Global, parent company of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center. “Our Jan. 25 game is an opportunity for fans to learn about Chinese New Year traditions from across the world and right here within our community. We are excited to collaborate with Phillip Lim to showcase how fashion and sport can work together to connect different communities and individual’s backgrounds.”

As presenter of the Nets’ Chinese New Year game, Panda Express®, the largest American Chinese restaurant concept in the world, will participate in the holiday in a variety of ways throughout the evening including an exclusive red envelope giveaway for every fan in attendance, wishing them good fortune for the new year. Each lucky red envelope contains a QR code directing fans to PandaLNY.com where they can play a fun game to win various rewards, redeemable at any Panda Express location nationwide. Additionally, fans can enter a sweepstakes to win a signed Kevin Durant jersey by scanning a QR code located on pop-up banners throughout the arena. 

 “The universal importance of togetherness and family behind Lunar New Year has always been meaningful to Panda Express, as a family-owned restaurant concept founded by Chinese immigrants. We hope to bridge perspectives and connect people through our food, the way we celebrate culture, and the stories we tell,” said Andrea Cherng, Chief Brand Officer at Panda Express. “It is a great honor to be able to partner with the Brooklyn Nets, who share our values of giving back to local communities and fostering greater cultural appreciation. We look forward to spreading good fortune and ringing in the Year of the Tiger with our guests in the New York area on Jan. 25 at Barclays Center.”

The evening’s festivities will also feature the debut of special dance routines from Team Hype and the Brooklynettes, as well as a performance by TAKALA LAND, a Chinese youth hip-hop dance team. There will also be a fully immersive Chinese New Year photo booth set up for fans on the concourse, Chinese New Year shooting shirts on-sale in the team store, and the Nets will incorporate videos featuring Chinese New Year wishes from various Nets players throughout the game. 

Arena doors will open at 6 p.m. and fans are encouraged to take their seats by 7:15 p.m. for an opening ceremony that will include a national anthem performance by the world's youngest string orchestra – "The Joyous String Ensemble," followed by starting lineups announced in Mandarin by Shuming Han. Consul General Huang Ping from the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in New York will also share a welcome message prior to tip off.

Ensuring the local community is also involved in the Chinese New Year celebrations, Barclays Center’s Brooklyn Market, which features local minority-owned restaurants, will feature cuisine from three local Chinese-owned restaurants - Yaso Tangbao, Mimi Cheng's and The Tang – and a group of students from the NYU’s Chinese Student Group will participate in a pre-game panel with employees from BSE Global, parent company of the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center.

 Tuesday’s game is part of the NBA’s 11th Lunar New Year league-wide campaign to celebrate the most important annual holiday for Chinese around the world. The NBA and its teams began celebrating Lunar New Year in 2012 and since then, all 30 teams have celebrated the annual spring festival holiday with in-game elements, live performances, traditional food, partner activations, and more. The Nets will collaborate with NBA China to distribute various social and digital content pieces across both the Nets’ and the league’s channels. 

The game will be broadcast live on TNT at 7:30 p.m. EST and will also be available in China on Tencent and Migu. WFAN is the official radio partner of the Brooklyn Nets. Tickets for the game are on-sale now at seatgeek.com and