Countries NBA games have been played outside US, Canada

12 – Japan

Japan was the first international country to host a regular season game all the way back in 1990 when the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz played two games in November of that year with the teams splitting the series. After that, Japan hosted two games in 1992, 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2003 with the venues ranging from the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium and the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama and the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama.

The last of these games came in 2003 when the Seattle Supersonics and Los Angeles Clippers split a two-game series. Since then, the NBA has not gone back to Japan or even Asia in the regular season, but with the popularity of the sport in that region of the world, expect the league to return sooner than later.

Rashard Lewis scored 50 PTS in the NBA Japan Game on Oct. 31, 2003! #NBAVault

NBA Japan Games 2019 presented by Rakuten: HOU/TOR, Oct. 8 & 10 pic.twitter.com/Ez1608N2Ax

— NBA History (@NBAHistory) March 5, 2019