The 2024 NBA Abu Dhabi Games mark the start of the pre-season slate for the league. Which teams will be featured in the festivities?
Earlier this year, it was announced that the NBA would indeed be putting on another edition of the Abu Dhabi Games, which started three years ago. This season, the NBA will send the Denver Nuggets and defending NBA champion Boston Celtics to face off in two pre-season games. Bot the Nuggets and Celtics will begin their training camps a week earlier in anticipation of making the trip overseas.
Starting camp on September 24, the Celtics and Nuggets will face off in exhibition games in Abu Dhabi on October 4 and 6. In what will be the third edition of the series, Abu Dhabi is going to be getting two of the league's best teams. It's easy to see why there will be a big draw for the Celtics. They just completed one of the most dominating runs to an NBA Championship in recent history and are returning essentially the same team. They're going to be a heavy favorite to win it all once again this season.
On the other side, even though the Nuggets are coming off somewhat of a disappointing end to their season, they still have one of the most talented rosters in the league and will be one of the favorites to win the Western Conference this season. The argument could be made that the NBA is sending two of the best teams in the league to showcase the league's product. And, quite frankly, that's how it should be.
The history of the NBA's Abu Dhabi Games
Last season, the league's second year of the Abu Dhabi Games, the Dallas Mavericks and Minnesota Timberwolves were the featured teams. Interestingly enough, those two teams had quite the surprising seasons this year in which they both found themselves in a Western Conference Finals matchup.
During the first year of the installment, it was the Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks who faced off in the 2022 NBA Abu Dhabi games. At this point, with the league moving forward with this initiative for three straight seasons, you'd have to imagine this is something that's going to continue for the foreseeable future. Unless, of course, the league would want to move it to another location. But in that case, they could just add to their international games as they appear to be doing this season.