Jeremy Lin leads NBA’s record-setting Chinese New Year celebrations
NBA announces plans for festivities from February 2 to March 3 with Brooklyn Nets guard Lin to visit the home of his maternal grandmother in Pinghu, China
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Brooklyn Nets guard Jeremy Lin will meet NBA fans from China as part of the league’s record-setting 2018 Chinese New Year celebration.
A record 12 NBA clubs will host in-arena celebrations while a record 93 NBA games will be telecast in the China region as part of the league’s seventh consecutive holiday celebration, running from February 2 to March 3.
The league also debuted a series of television spots on Friday as part of the celebration, the “Fireworks” campaign including five-time NBA All-Star Anthony Davis of the New Orleans Pelicans, five-time NBA All-Star and NBA champion Kyrie Irving of the Boston Celtics and 2014 NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Kawhi Leonard of the San Antonio Spurs.
Nets guard Lin, the NBA’s first Chinese-American player, will be the subject of a 10-minute documentary on his visit to the home of his maternal grandmother in Pinghu, China, and on February 6 the NBA’s Weibo account will feature a live stream with Lin answering questions from fans and taking part in a traditional Chinese New Year dinner.
Three members of NBA China’s fan loyalty programme, NBA Qiu Mi Quan, will travel to New York to meet Lin and watch the Nets play the Houston Rockets on February 6.
Retired Jason Williams, who helped the 2006 Miami Heat win an NBA championship, will visit China to donate sports equipment and a music room to underprivileged students in Lijiang on Monday, then travel to Shanghai to host two Chinese New Year celebrations and basketball clinics for Special Olympics athletes at NBA Playzone on Wednesday and Shanghai Yumiao migrant school next Thursday.
NBA China will also donate sports and educational equipment to projects in Yunnan, Hunan and Beijing and basketballs to junior school students across China.
Among 12 teams with arena celebrations will be defending champions the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets, who will wear special uniforms with Chinese characters.
Among the Chinese New Year celebration matches will be the season’s first game between the Warriors and San Antonio Spurs on February 11.
Three nights later, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will visit Oklahoma City to face the Russell Westbrook-led Thunder.
On February 25, the Warriors will don their special jerseys to face the Thunder as former teammates Westbrook and Kevin Durant face each other.
On March 1, James Harden, Chris Paul and the Rockets visit the Los Angeles Clippers.
This month marks the 10th anniversary of NBA China, the NBA entity that conducts all of the league’s businesses in China. The league opened its first office in Hong Kong in 1992.
