Nuggets selected to play NBA Global Games in Middle East capital this fall
By Ben Handler
The NBA announced on Wednesday that the 2024 Abu Dhabi Games will be played between the Denver Nuggets and the Boston Celtics. The teams will meet for two preseason games on October 4th and 6th, with the precise venue to be announced at a later date.
This is the third year of the Abu Dhabi Games; they premiered in 2022 with the Buck and Hawks playing a pair of games in the United Arab Emirates capital. This came after the NBA and the UAE’s Department of Culture and Tourism reached a multiyear partnership.
That marked the first time that the NBA had ever held games in the Middle East. The Mavericks and Timberwolves met last year for the 2023 Games. Last year’s games came on the heels of the announcement that Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund was purchasing a stake in the Washington Wizards - the first-ever transaction of that variety.
Nuggets' Global Games History
The Nuggets have played in five NBA Global Games in the team’s history; most recently a regular season game in London, England in January of 2017 against the Pacers. The first time the Nuggets took part in the Global Games was a preseason game in October of 1993 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
They have also participated in games in Monterrey, Mexico in 2006, Taipei City, Taiwan in 2009, and Beijing, China in 2009. All of those games were preseason matchups. Those games all pre-dated any players on the current Nuggets roster.
NBA games have been broadcast in the United Arab Emirates dating back to the 1987-88 season, and the 2024 Games are expected to reach more than 200 countries and territories across the world in a live capacity.
Let’s hope that by October the Nuggets have won their second straight NBA championship, and these Abu Dhabi Games act as a world tour for fans to celebrate. That would be a great way to kick off the preseason after a summer of celebrating, as the team gears up to attempt a three-peat, something that hasn’t been done since the Lakers at the beginning of this millennium.