Sources: NBA nixes plans for Middle East games

July 30, 2026 No Comments

Sources: No plans for NBA Middle East games due to warRamona ShelburneClose

Ramona Shelburne

ESPN Senior Writer

Senior writer for ESPN.com
Spent seven years at the Los Angeles Daily News

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Brian Windhorst

ESPN Senior Writer

ESPN.com NBA writer since 2010
Covered Cleveland Cavs for seven years
Author of two books

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Jul 30, 2026, 08:15 AM ET

For the first time in five years, the NBA will not play any preseason games in the Middle East, sources told ESPN. The decision comes amid the war between the United States and Iran and the ongoing conflict in the region.

While the NBA never unveiled preseason games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, this year, as it had for the previous four years, sources told ESPN that the league had held discussions with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards about potentially participating in the games.

The NBA had also explored possibly hosting its first game in Doha, Qatar, though those plans were never finalized or unveiled. One scenario would have had two of the four teams play one game in Doha and one in Abu Dhabi on the same trip. The Qatar Investment Authority is a minority owner of the Wizards’ parent company.

In January, the NBA and Abu Dhabi’s Department of Culture and Tourism unveiled an extension of its existing collaboration that featured preseason NBA Global Games, expanded marketing activities and the launch of an NBA Global Academy in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

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That partnership will continue and preseason games will be scheduled in Abu Dhabi in the future, sources stated. The NBA is expected to revisit playing in Qatar in the future, sources stated, though there is no timeline for that with the ongoing conflict.

The 2027 FIBA World Cup is scheduled to be played in Doha next August, and an NBA preseason game was to be featured as part of the run-up to the event.

The New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers played a pair of preseason games in Abu Dhabi in October ahead of the 2025-26 season.

On Sunday, Formula 1 unveiled that its previously postponed grand prix in Bahrain will now take place in Malaysia in October. The racing series is still waiting to decide on its planned races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi later this year.