The 2018 NBA Africa Game is set to take place on Saturday August 4 in Pretoria, South Africa for the first time; the past two editions were played in Johannesburg.
For this week’s game, Centers will lead Teams and World and Africa respectively with Miami Heat Center Hassan Whiteside and Philadelphia Sixers Center Joel Embiid.
Previous years have had the likes of Forwards Luol Deng and Dirk Nowitzki and Point Guard Chris Paul lead the respective teams.
Embiid was set to Captain Team Africa from the start but Whiteside got the nod recently after DeMar DeRozan withdrew from participating in the game.
The game climaxes a weeklong of NBA related activities in the Southern African nation including the Basketball Without Borders program.
Proceeds from the game will be feed projects from the Nelson Mandela Foundation; top Assistant Coaches, Juwan Howard and Etorre Messina will coach Team African and Team World.
This Africa roster includes Pascal Siakam and Evan Fournier. Team World’s roster includes 2015 NBA Champion Harrison Barnes.
By Yaw Adjei-Mintah
@YawMintYM on Twitter
