The United Arab Emirates will host the teams from Milwaukee and Atlanta in October, who will meet in preseason games for the first time in the Middle East, the North American Basketball League announced Tuesday.
The games between the current NBA champion Bucks and the Hawks will take place in the capital, Abu Dhabi, on October 6 and 8.
These games are part of a multi-year agreement between the NBA and the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism.
No preseason games have been played outside of North America since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Previously, some matches had been organized in England, France, Mexico, Japan, China and lately in India.
In 2021, the Milwaukee Bucks won their first NBA championship title since 1971. Team star Giannis Antetokounmpo had scored 50 points, becoming only the seventh player in Finals history to break that barrier.
However, it won’t be the first time an NBA team has visited the Middle East: the Washington Bullets faced Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel in 1978.