After a three-year break caused by the pandemic, the NBA is returning to Mexico City. The first regular-season game will be played in the capital city of the United States’ southern neighbor on December 17, 2022, between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs according to the South Florida Sun Sentinal’s Ira Windman.
In 2019, the Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, and San Antonio Spurs played a pair of games in the notably high-elevation metropolis, and the Heat’s first game in North America’s largest city since 2017, a fact picked up by then-Heat wing Dion Waiters at the time of their last visit according to Windman.
“I just found out it was actually bigger than New York,” observed Waiters. “That’s crazy.”
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The sport has increasingly become more popular in Mexico, with NBA Mexico Raul Zarraga estimating about 20 million fans in the country at the time of the last games.
“I was pleasantly surprised walking around and seeing NBA games on the TV everywhere we went, and the fans recognized us,” shared Miami head coach Eric Spoelstra in 2017. “It felt like we were in Miami.”
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Such sentiments were echoed earlier this offseason when the Rookie Wire caught up with recent NBA champion Juan Toscano Anderson to talk to him about the basketball scene in the capital of his ancestral home of Mexico.
“Mexico City is one of the most amazing cities in the world, and I’ve been all over the world,” explained Toscano-Anderson. “You could try to compare it to New York City, maybe LA a little bit, maybe Chicago — but even then that’s doing it a disservice.”
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The former Warriors forward and current Los Angeles Lakers wing came up through overseas stints playing in Mexico among other stops before breaking through to the Association.
“Even the guys who are going to play with the Capitanes in the G League (Mexico City’s new franchise in the NBA’s developmental league), I would always tell them, ‘You’re going to have the most amazing experience of your life living in Mexico City.”
“I honestly wish I could get that feeling all over again,” he added, a fond memory of his time in one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the hemisphere coming over his countenance.
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“The city is always bustling,” explained Toscano-Anderson. “There’s so much to do — the food is amazing; the culture is amazing. I think it’s really good for the NBA.”
The millions of fans in Mexico who will be watching or in attendance at what Windman is describing as “part of the Spurs’ expansion beyond their AT&T Center home” this December almost certainly agree.
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