NBA stars scheduled to play an exhibition game in Indianapolis
The National Basketball Association (NBA) locked out its players on July 1st over labour turbulence with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). Since then, many negotiations have taken place between the
NBA owners and the players union, but still no positive devolvement has come on the issue.
This ongoing work stoppage in the league has already forced many professional players to play overseas. Many have signed with different international basketball clubs to play overseas during the lockout. On the other hand, still
there are many players, who are in serious talks with international teams to make a potential deal as long as the lockout prevails in the NBA.
Even though, the work stoppage does not permit any game to be played until the lockout is lifted from the players, but still plenty of basketball activities are happening among the NBA players. Many exhibition games have already
been played, and now the date is set for another showdown in Indianapolis on Friday, 24 September.
This exhibition game will be played between the Indy Pro Am and Goodman League at the Indianapolis Convention Centre. Several NBA superstars are participating to show their talent.
This particular exhibition game is an initiative of Brandon Cameron, who is a former leading scorer of the West Side’s 2002 State Championship and also represented the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. He played
with their basketball team IUPUI Jaguars for almost three years.
Cameron spoke to the media about the upcoming exhibition game and explained why it was important for all professional players to stay fit during the lockout. Cameron said,
“We do training year-around from middle school to high school to the pros, Indianapolis is a Mecca for basketball but there are no programs, no summer leagues here, so we put our heads together and made it happen. They got to stay
in shape and it's very rare that they can play with different NBA players; Kevin Durant set the tone, the pace, this summer for all those guys by playing in summer leagues across the country. Many people don't have that opportunity.”
The Knox Indy Pro-Am’s roster include, Indiana Pacers’ George Hill, along with Los Angeles Clippers’ Eric Gordon, Memphis Grizzlies’ Zach Randolph, Utah Jazz’s Gordon Hayward, Boston Celtics’ JaJuan Johnson, Charlotte Bobcats’
D.J White, Atlanta Hawks’ Jeff Teague and Washington Wizards’ Shelvin Mack.
On the other hand, the Goodman League’s roster include Oklahoma City Thunder’s superstar Kevin Durant, along with Washington Wizards’ John Wall, Sacramento Kings’ DeMarcus Cousins, New Orleans Hornets’ Jarrett Jack, Boston Celtics’
Jeff Green, Sacramento Kings’ Tyreke Evans, Memphis Grizzlies’ Sam Young, Dallas Mavericks’ Caron Butler, and Minnesota Timberwolves’ Mike Beasley.
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