The National Basketball Association is headed to Cuba.
The NBA will host and sponsor a four-day development camp — starting on April 23 in Havana — that will also be sponsored by FIBA, basketball’s international governing body. Former NBA players Steve Nash and Dikembe Mutombo, former WNBA player Ticha Penicheiro and the Cuban men’s and women’s national teams will lead the clinic.
Orlando Magic coach James Borrego and Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder, as well as other NBA assistant coaches and team executives are expected to be sent to Cuba as well.
The league also plans to invite two players and one coach from Cuba to be part of an upcoming Basketball Without Borders camp — a global community outreach program that invites to players worldwide to participate in camps in different countries. The BWB Global Camp was held this year in New York City during the NBA All Star 2015 weekend.
Monday’s announcement makes the NBA the first major American sports league to conduct official business in Cuba since President Obama announced in December his administration would be moving to restore diplomatic ties with the communist island country since they were severed in 1961.
“It all came together pretty quickly,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said. “We hope this is the beginning of a long and positive relationship with the Cuban Basketball Federation.”
Though NBA isn’t as popular in Cuba as Major League Baseball — which is looking to hold an exhibition game there as early as next season — it is without a doubt an important move as U.S.-Cuban relations look to normalize.
Obama heads to the Summit of the Americas in Panama later this week — but the White House was mum on if he will or will not meet with Cuban leader Raul Castro while in attendance.
(h/t The Wall Street Journal)
