Sheikh Khaled also attended a practice session and met with NBA star players from the 2021 NBA championship-winning team, the Milwaukee Bucks, who are taking on the Atlanta Hawks in two pre-season games. He was accompanied by Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, Chairman of DCT Abu Dhabi, Saood Abdulaziz Al Hosani, Under-Secretary, DCT Abu Dhabi, Saleh Mohamed Saleh Al Geziry, Director-General for Tourism, DCT Abu Dhabi, and Marc Lasry, co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks.
The landmark series marks the first NBA games to take place in the GCC, and highlights Abu Dhabi’s position as a leading tourism destination and a hub for world-class sports events.
Signed in November 2021, the partnership agreement between DCT Abu Dhabi and the NBA has seen the launch of the Junior NBA Abu Dhabi League, a youth basketball league for 450 boys and girls aged 11-14 from 30 schools across Abu Dhabi, as well as an NBA 2K League exhibition event. A series of NBA Fit Clinics promoting health and wellness are also in the pipeline. Under the terms of the partnership, DCT Abu Dhabi, under the Visit Abu Dhabi initiative, serves as the Official Tourism Destination Partner of the NBA in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and China.