LONDON - The first day of the 76ers’ trip to the United Kingdom for the NBA London Game 2018 flew by at a whirlwind pace.
After boarding a transatlantic flight from Philadelphia Monday evening, the team touched down at Heathrow Airport at nearly 9:00 AM GMT.
Both as the Sixers were leaving home, and upon their arrival in the British capital, plenty of excitement was expressed on social media.
For Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, Tuesday was marked by a memorable experience. Thanks to a thoughtful gesture made by a podcast-hosting veteran teammate, the French swingman had the chance to meet fellow countryman Thierry Henry, the retired soccer superstar, and one of Luwawu-Cabarrot’s childhood heroes.
“It was amazing,” Luwawu-Cabarrot said in a podcast interview. “It was like a child’s dream. When I was a kid, I was obviously playing soccer because it’s the main sport in France. It was really special to meet [him] because he was my favorite player.”
While Luwawu-Cabarrot, Redick, and Henry were off doing their thing, a quartet of Sixers headed across town for a Jr. NBA Clinic held at the CitySport fitness and training facility. There, Trevor Booker, Robert Covington, T.J. McConnell, and Dario Saric led a group of young Londoners through a series of drills, with some help from Crystal Palace FC players Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mamadou Sakho, and Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
Like the Sixers, Crystal Palace is owned and operated by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.
Once the Jr. NBA event wrapped up around 4:00 PM, it was time for the rest of the Sixers to hit the floor for an hour-long workout.
The session was preceded by a 30-minute media availability period. Here’s a collection of scrums conducted by members of the international press contingent that’s reported to London to cover Thursday’s contest:
Brett Brown
Robert Covington
Joel Embiid
Ben Simmons
By 7:00 PM, the Sixers were back at club headquarters, a busy day in the books, and ready for the next one.