Denver Nuggets history in NBA Global Games

On Wednesday the NBA and the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism announced that the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics will play in the Abu Dhabi Games 2024. They’ll square off in two preseason games on October 4th and 6th in the United Arab Emirates capital city as part of the third annual event.

The Abu Dhabi Games debuted in 2022 as part of the NBA Global Games. The NBA began holding events outside of the US and Canada in 1978 with an exhibition game in Tel Aviv, Israel. 

Global Games history

Since then, the NBA has staged 37 regular season games outside of the United States and Canada to go along with 85 preseason contests, officially putting all of these games under the umbrella of the NBA Global Games in 2013.

In the 45 years of international games and over 122 games, the Nuggets have played just 5 times, across five different countries.

Nuggets history

The Nuggets’ first appearance in one of these games came in 1993 as the team faced off with the Miami Heat on October 30th in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The Heat won that game 109-103. Denver didn’t appear in another international game until October 14th, 2006 when the team traveled to Monterrey, Mexico where they lost a preseason game 121-115 to the Golden State Warriors.

In 2009 the Nuggets traveled to Asia where they played two preseason games against the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers won the first game on October 8th, 126-104 in Taipei, Taiwan. Then on October 11th, The Nuggets avenged the loss, 128-112 in Beijing, China.

The Nuggets have also played one regular season game as part of the Global Games. On January 12th, 2017 the Nuggets beat the Pacers 140-112 in London, England. That marks the last time the team has played internationally.

That span will come to an end this fall in Abu Dhabi, where hopefully the Nuggets will be beginning a journey toward a third consecutive NBA championship. The official venue has yet to be announced, and tickets for the event have yet to go on sale.