Melbourne United to face Ben Simmons in Philly, Raptors in Toronto in preseason
Melbourne United will face off with Ben Simmons and the Philadelphia 76ers in one of two marquee NBA preseason games later this year.
The reigning NBL champions will play the Sixers in Philadelphia and leading Eastern conference side Toronto Raptors in Toronto in two of the NBL’s seven preseason games in late September and early October.
Simmons played against Melbourne United in Melbourne in 2015 while a college basketballer at Louisiana State University and spent part of his childhood and teenage years this city playing a pivotal role in leading Vic Metro to the under-16 national championship before heading to the US.
The 21-year-old is already one of Australia’s most marketable sporting figures, arguably the biggest, and his shoe company had a digital billboard outside Flinders Street Station on Tuesday night celebrating his rookie of the year award.
The Sydney Kings, Perth Wildcats, Adelaide 36ers and New Zealand Breakers will also have NBA match-ups.
The Kings will play LA Clippers in Hawaii, the Wildcats will visit Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz while the 36ers will also play the Jazz in Salt Lake City and the Breakers will take on Phoenix Suns.
Last year Melbourne United pushed a star-studded Oklahoma City Thunder to the final play before losing while the Sydney Kings and Brisbane Bullets were more than competitive in losses to Utah and Phoenix.
But Melbourne’s meeting with Simmons will capture major attention in Australia as the reigning rookie of the year begins his sophomore season on court with the Sixers who also boast star centre Joel Embiid and former Australian Boomers coach Brett Brown.
The Raptors will also pose an elite NBA test as they won the Eastern conference this past season before falling to LeBron James led Cleveland to victory over them in the conference semi finals.
If Melbourne can retain star import Casper Ware then he will face off with his good friend DeMar DeRozan who stars for the Raptors, after leading Melbourne to the NBL championship last season Ware went home to the US and watched DeRozan and the Raptors in the playoffs.
The NBL has yet to announce its schedule for next season but the start of the season will be put back to the second week in October to allow the sides to travel over to the US, play their games and then return.
The announcement of the expanded NBL v NBA series could help several NBL sides in recruiting star imports due to the exposure of the games.
All the matches are expected to be broadcast live back to Australia after last year’s match-ups attracted plenty of interest.
Multiple Australian players are also pushing to make NBA rosters for next season on the back of success from Simmons, Joe Ingles, Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova.
The NBL v NBA series will open a big year in Australian basketball with the Boomers to play Team USA in Melbourne in 2019 ahead of the FIBA World Cup in China.