History of NBA London

history of nba london

NBA Global Games born September 1978

The history of NBA London dates back to 30th October 1993 when Orlando Magic defeated the Atlanta Hawks 120-95 at the London Arena.  Atlanta got their revenge the very next evening with 113-101 victory over the Magic.  To get the real history of NBA London you have to all the way back to 1978 when the NBA Global Games was founded.

The concept was a pretty simple one; an NBA team would play a game outside North America either against a foreign team or another NBA team.  On 7th September 1978 the Washington Bullets played Maccabi Tel Aviv.  The Bullets, the then NBA Champions would lose out to Tel Aviv by one point 98-97.  The Washington Bullets would then play 3 more games the following year; 2 in China and one in the Philippines.

It seemed one of America’s best-loved sports had a big draw overseas and the Global Games really took off from there. In fact, 2001 is the only year the NBA has not sent teams abroad to play a game since 1993!  They have played anywhere from Japan to Brazil to Mexico and beyond.  Other sports have followed suit too with the NFL London series becoming hugely popular in the UK and talk of Major League Baseball coming to Great Britain soon too.

The NBA Global Games have hosted regular season matches in the UK (known as NBA London) since 2011.  We have been blessed with some amazing teams and indeed competitive matches played at the O2 Arena in London.  The NBA Global Games are regularly a sell-out, with tickets in hot demand.  Historically the NBA London matches attract many A-list celebrities to be seen courtside as the cream of the crop go at it in the capital.  While the history of NBA London is steeped with some amazing victories, we know for sure that the popularity of NBA London will only increase.

History of NBA London:

DateHomeScoreAwayScoreVenue
30th Oct 1993Orlando Magic120Atlanta Hawks95London Arena, London
31st Oct 1993Atlanta Hawks113Orlando Magic101London Arena, London
10th Oct 2007Boston Celtics92Minnesota Timberwolves81The O2 Arena, London
12th Oct 2008Miami Heat92New Jersey Nets94The O2 Arena, London
6th Oct 2009Utah Jazz101Chicago Bulls102The O2 Arena, London
4th Oct 2010Los Angeles Lakers92Minnesota Timberwolves111The O2 Arena, London
4th Mar 2011Toronto Raptors103New Jersey Nets116The O2 Arena, London
5th Mar 2011Toronto Raptors136New Jersey Nets137The O2 Arena, London
8th Oct 2013Oklahoma City Thunder103Philadelphia 76ers99Phones4u Arena, Manchester
17th Jan 2013New York Nicks102Detroit Pistons87The O2 Arena, London
16th Jan 2014Brooklyn Nets127Atlanta Hawks110The O2 Arena, London
15th Jan 2015New York Nicks79Milwaukee Bucks95The O2 Arena, London
14th Jan 2016Orlando Magic103Toronto Raptors106The O2 Arena, London
12th Jan 2017Denver Nuggets140Indiana Pacers112The O2 Arena, London
11th Jan 2018Boston Celtics114Philadelphia 76ers103The O2 Arena, London
17th Jan 2019New York Nicks100Washington Wizards101The O2 Arena, London