Milwaukee Bucks to play two preseason games in Abu Dhabi in the NBA's first venture into the Middle East

The Milwaukee Bucks are jet-setting again.

The Bucks and the Atlanta Hawks will play two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on Oct. 6 and Oct. 8 at Etihad Arena on Yas Island, the NBA announced early Tuesday morning.

The league announced its partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism-Abu Dhabi in November to bring the NBA to the Arabian Gulf for the first time. Tickets have not gone on sale, but fans can register at www.nba.com/abudhabi for information as it is released, including pre-sale access.

Other NBA-related events will take place around the games, such as junior leagues, an NBA 2K video game exhibition and fitness clinics.

In a statement Bucks president Peter Feigin said, “We are honored to have been selected to participate in the NBA’s first games in the United Arab Emirates. As the NBA continues to expand globally, we look forward to visiting Abu Dhabi and furthering the league’s goals of inspiring people through basketball. We will be proud to represent our city, our state and Bucks fans worldwide this October.”

This will be the third time the Bucks have played internationally since Giannis Antetokounmpo was drafted in 2013.

The team played in London on Jan. 15, 2015, beating the New York Knicks 95-79. They were then a part of the first NBA regular season game in Paris on Jan. 24, 2020, when they played the Charlotte Hornets.

The league shut down less than two months after that game due to the global coronavirus pandemic and did not have any international competitions this season. But NBA commissioner Adam Silver had hoped the league could resume games for the 2022-23 campaign.

On April 6, Silver was asked about holding competitions in the UAE even though the country has criminalized the LGBTQ community as well as committing other “significant human rights issues,” per a 2020 report by the United States Department of State.

“It’s a fair question,” Silver said. “We continue to believe that using sports, using basketball, we can improve people’s lives through sport and that, as Nelson Mandela famously said, sport can change the world. I think that we bring our games all over the world.

“I mean, part of why we choose certain markets is of course economics. There’s no question about that. It’s enormously expensive and resource-driven to bring teams around the world. We also want to try bringing our games to places we haven’t been before, and the Middle East is one of those markets.

“We look at many different factors in terms of how we travel, bring our games. But our ultimate goal is to bring our games to everywhere around the world. There are lines we draw, but we’re an American company and usually we allow those lines to be drawn by our government. Whoever happens to be our administration gives us direction on where they think it’s appropriate for us to operate and not operate.”

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Bucks, Atlanta Hawks to play 2 preseason games in Abu Dhabi