Stephanie Henares, MOA Arena public relations officer, said the former NBA superstars would be appearing in several mall tours as part of the promotions for the much-awaited event.
Henares declined to name the players pending talks with NBA Asia, but said their presence will definitely whet the appetites of basketball-crazy Filipino fans in the lead-up to the Rockets-Pacers preseason match.
“We’re going to have a road show with some of the NBA legends, but definitely, we will not leave the fans hanging,” Henares bared to Spin.ph.
“In fact, it’s not just gonna be one big announcement, but it will be a series of events (leading to the preseason game),” she added.
The Rockets are currently fighting for a spot in the NBA Western Conference playoffs behind their one-two punch of James Harden and Jeremy Lin.
Several big-name stars have donned the famed Rockets jersey, among them Hall of Famers Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, who led Houston to back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995, and Chinese center Yao Ming, the former No. 1 draft pick who retired prematurely at the age of 30 due to a foot injury.
Last year, former Chicago Bulls stars Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman led a team of retired NBA players who competed against a selection of PBA Legends in a one-night exhibition game at the MOA Arena.
In 2011, NBA superstars Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, and Kevin Durant played in a pair of exhibition matches against a PBA selection and the Gilas-Pilipinas team at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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