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The NBA is sending Denver and Indiana to Mexico City for a regular-season game Nov. 7, the league said Thursday. The game will be the 35th in Mexico, all since 1992, and the 16th regular-season contest there. Other than the U.S. and Canada, no nation has played host to more NBA games than Mexico. "Hosting the 35th game in the country reflects the depth of the NBA's relationship with Mexico and the role this event plays in bringing the global game closer to fans locally, throughout Latin America, and around the world," said Raul Zarraga, senior vice president of NBA Latin America.
One notable ambassador for the Mavericks and the Mexico City Game is Eduardo Najera, one of six players from Mexico to play in the NBA. Najera, who was a Maverick from 2001 to 2004 and in 2009-10, encouraged his home country to embrace the Mavericks in March when the franchise donated a basketball court in Monterrey. “The Mavericks should be the team of Mexico,” Nájera said in a prepared statement. “This was my dream, when I was playing with the Mavericks, to do this type of event in Mexico. We want to continue the growth of basketball, specifically with the Dallas Mavericks throughout this country.”
It’s possible that as soon as next summer, Nájera will no longer be the only Mexican-born player drafted in the NBA. Karim López is an 18-year-old forward from Sonora, Mexico, who is spending this season with the New Zealand Breakers of the National Basketball League. Draft analysts have predicted that if Lopez’s strong play in the NBL continues, he could be a top-10 selection.
In just a few months, López could make good on that assertion and become an unmistakable celebrity for millions of fans across Mexico, the U.S. and wherever pro basketball is followed. He is poised to become the first Mexican-born player to go in the first round of the NBA draft and join a handful of players from the country to play there in nearly 80 years. "I was born playing basketball; I mean, I like to say I had a ball in my hand since the day I was born," said López in Spanish. The phenom sat down with ESPN to discuss his story for Hispanic Heritage Month.
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Eduardo Villalpando: Norman Powell will make his debut for the Jamaican National Team during next month’s FIBA window in Mexico, a league source tells me. Jamaica will face Mexico, Barbados, and Costa Rica in World Cup Qualifiers. Suns big man Nick Richards will also join the squad. 🇯🇲
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Mexico will get to see NBA stars play in a regular-season game in the 2025-26 season. The league announced on Tuesday that the Dallas Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons will be the teams sharing the court in a game in Mexico City in November. “The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Zignia Live today announced that The NBA Mexico City Game 2025 will feature the Dallas Mavericks and the Detroit Pistons playing a regular-season game hosted by Zignia Live at the Arena CDMX in Mexico City on Saturday, Nov. 1.,” the leagues' statement read (via the NBA's official website).
