Actually this isn't a joke and they're probably not going to a bar, but I was jonesing for a ridiculous headline.
Gary Payton, the pride of the Seattle Supersonics and recent focus of my friend's Facebook picture after a sighting in Vegas during the NBA Summer League, will join fellow former NBA All-Stars Chris Webber, Mitch Richmond and Glen Rice later this month in the Philippines for an exhibition game according to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Those four players, along with four former D-Leaguers (Richie Frahm, Darnell Lazare, Mark Tyndale and Chris McCray), will be combined with current and former players from the Philippine Basketball Association to make up two teams that will play against each other on August 27 at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, a city in the Philippines.
The Filipino players expected to be included are Benjie Paras, Ronnie Magsanoc, Atoy Co, four-time MVP Alvin Patrimonio, Dondon Hontiveros, Arwind Santos and Rico Maierhofer. I don't remember any of them being included in my favorite book on basketball in the Philippines, but I assume they can ball.
Tickets will reportedly be priced as low as P264 up to P2,640 - or roughly from $5 to $58 American dollars if this currency converter is correct.
This will mark the second straight year that a selection of former NBA greats (and D-Leaguers!) will be going to the Philippines since Dominique Wilkins, Robert Horry, Vlade Divac and Tim Hardaway went on a tour of Asia last year. The American team dominated, but more importantly, the 50-year-old Wilkins dunked. Twice.
This year, the highlight I'll be looking forward to is a recreation of this from Mark Tyndale. Or maybe Richie Frahm going off from beyond the arc.
We'll more than likely have an update on this game when it gets closer because it will happen in August and nothing else is happening in August.
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