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The Phoenix Suns taking a global trip to China for two preseason games will impact how first-year head coach Jordan Ott prepares for the regular season, but he sees the value in it.
“That travel is real,” Ott said. “We’re going to lose a couple of days going there, coming back, but we’re not going to make an excuse. We’re going to try to maximize the time we have on the flight. We’ll obviously try to maximize some practice time, but I don’t see it as a negative. We’ll turn it into a way we’re together more, whether it’s team bonding or something on the court.”
Oh, that travel is definitely real.
The Suns are taking a 17-hour private charter flight Monday, Oct. 6, to China for a weeklong stay that ends with two games in three days, Oct. 10 and 12, against the Brooklyn Nets at the 14,000-seat Venetian Arena in Macao.
No connection flight, either.
“We’re going straight there,” said Suns big Oso Ighodaro as he and teammate Ryan Dunn spent two weeks in China this summer on a promotional tour leading up to the China Games.
Certainly not your average quick flight to Los Angeles to play the Lakers.
The 7,500-mile flight to China and weeklong stay is a seven-figure expense shared by the NBA and participating teams. The NBA pays for the chartered flight of the teams while the teams finance any additional travel.
The Suns will have representatives taking commercial flights to China on different days.
The games start at 5 a.m., Oct. 10 and 4 a.m., Oct. 12, Phoenix time. In China, they’ll be primetime viewing at 8 p.m. and 7 p.m.
The Suns return Oct. 13, a day before their final preseason game Oct. 14 against the Lakers at the newly renamed Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix.
Planning NBA’s return to China
The planning for a trip of this magnitude begins more than a year in advance.
The NBA contacts all 30 teams to gauge their interests, sharing the dates for the games to see if it fits their preseason schedules.
These are ongoing conversations until two teams are ultimately chosen.
The planning generally picks up after the previous season ends. The NBA announced the teams last December, as it works with them on flight arrangements and hotel availability.
The NBA and Sands China are in the first of a multiyear collaboration to bring the China Games to Macao. The two games sold out quickly for the 14,000-seat arena.
The games are the first since being frozen out of China for five years following then-Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeting his support for anti-government protests in Hong Kong over a bill that would amend extradition laws. That came before the Lakers played the Nets in China in 2019 and led to fallout between the NBA and China.
Between the NBA and USA Basketball, this will be the 49th and 50th games in China since 1979 when the then-defending NBA champion Washington Bullets (now Wizards) played against a Chinese team in an exhibition.
“Bringing preseason games to Macao will showcase the excitement of the NBA to fans in one of the world’s emerging hubs for sports,” NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum said in a Sands news release.
Sands Las Vegas, the parent company, pays the NBA to bring the games and events to China. The NBA works with teams to make sure it’s a financially viable proposition for them.
“The Nets and the Suns feature an exciting mix of established and rising stars,” Tatum continued in the release. “We look forward to engaging fans, aspiring players and the local community in Macao through these games and a variety of interactive events, youth development programs and social impact initiatives.”
The planning shifts to mapping out the activities once the teams are chosen. There are millions of NBA fans in China who’ll have one opportunity this year to see NBA teams and players in person, which factors into the number of events.
The Suns are participating in community service and fan events. The marquee players like Suns star Devin Booker are in greater demand for the fan activities, but the NBA doesn’t look to overburden them to make appearances.
Six players from the Suns and Nets will participate in an NBA Cares event. There will be a fan day experience on the day between the two games that’ll consist of essentially all the players from both teams.
Suns ‘Ring of Honor” inductee Shawn Marion will be the “legend” representative for the franchise in China.
As for the practices and games, the teams typically practice at the game arena. There’s a plan to have an open window for media in China to watch practice.
The NBA fanbase in China is very passionate and knowledgeable about the league. A lively crowd is expected as one game will have a Phoenix theme and the other a Brooklyn theme.
Here are some additional Suns-specific elements to the trip:
Travel team
More than 120 Player 15 Group team members (players, coaches, basketball operations, executives, business leaders, live presentation, stat crew) will make the trip between private charter and commercial flights.
Suns corporate partners and guests are going as well.
Broadcasting the games
Arizona’s Family and Arizona Sports 98.7 FM will broadcast both games from remote locations.
The TV crew will work out of a studio at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications. Kevin Ray, Eddie Johnson, Ann Meyers Drysdale and Amanda Pflugrad form the broadcast team.
The radio station will use a conference room at PHX Arena to broadcast the game. Jon Bloom and Tim Kempton make up the Suns radio tandem.
‘Take such good care of us’
The Suns will have in-flight snacks and meals to support energy, recovery and circadian adjustment. The team consulted with leading sleep specialists to optimize a sleep plan on the flight.
“We have other people that work here that take such good care of us,” Ighodaro said. “Our nutritionist, our athletic trainers. They give us a step-by-step process to how to deal with anything. Even the flight, jet lag, whatever. We’re just going to trust them, listen to them and we’ll be good.”
The Gorilla, too
The Suns Gorilla team mascot is making the trip along with Suns Dancers and Phoenix Flyers, as they will provide entertainment at the games and different events the Suns and NBA are hosting.
The Suns are also bringing the Gorilla’s trampoline, t-shirts and other giveaway items, game jerseys featuring NBA Global Games patch and Wilson game balls provided by the NBA with NBA China Games branding.
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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