The Day of the Useless was energetic on Saturday evening in Mexico Metropolis with the Miami Warmth beating the Washington Wizards 118-98 and the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation (NBA) securing extra video games within the Latin American metropolis and seeking to increase the NBA and WNBA.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is eager on Mexico’s potential as a progress market and sees the nation as a secure path for the ladies’s league to increase its international footprint.
“Clearly (the ladies’s league) is coming off an incredible season, enormous uptick in attendance, enormous uptick in viewership and fan curiosity, and I feel they need to be bringing a sport right here. We are going to speak to our colleagues about it,” Silver informed a press convention.
The surge in curiosity within the WNBA has been fuelled by a star-studded rookie class, together with Caitlin Clark, and a common urge for food for feminine athletes all over the world following the Paris Olympics.
READ | NBA fines Philadelphia 76ers 100,000 USD for deceptive statements on Joel Embiid
The WNBA loved report scores and attendance this yr and has signed a tv deal reportedly value 200 million USD a season, and Silver identified the league might have “extra rapid priorities when it comes to progress”.
The commissioner additionally spoke of the multi-year cope with Mexico Metropolis organisers Zignia Stay, which is able to see extra common season matches performed within the metropolis. He didn’t reveal any particulars, however added the nation is the primary to be thought-about for growth.
“Personally I’d like to have a group in Mexico Metropolis. It’s after all the biggest metropolis in North America. I consider if we have been to return right here, we’d be Mexico’s group, not simply Mexico Metropolis’s, and it might be a gateway into Latin America,” Silver stated.
HOOPS IN THE NIGHT OF THE DEAD
Miami Warmth’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. wore a Day of the Useless masks earlier than the beginning of a observe session on Friday.
| Photograph Credit score:
AP
Miami Warmth’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. wore a Day of the Useless masks earlier than the beginning of a observe session on Friday.
| Photograph Credit score:
AP
Mexican-American Jaime Jaquez, in his second yr with the Miami aspect, was the person of the hour in entrance of a sell-out crowd of 20,328 followers, including gas to the Mexican Day of the Useless celebrations.
The Warmth was on hearth as two-time Olympic gold medallist Bam Adebayo completed with 32 factors, 14 rebounds and two assists, whereas six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler added 18 factors.
Alonzo Mourning, Goran Dragic and Drew Gooden have been invited as a part of the NBA Legends showcase, with the primary Mexican to play within the NBA, Alonzo Mourning, and the second, Eduardo Najera, including the icing on the cake.