Toronto Raptors compete against Houston Rockets during an NBA preseason basketball game at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, north of Tokyo, Japan October 8, 2019, in this photo taken by Kyodo. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS

March 14 (Reuters) - The National Basketball Association will return to Japan for two preseason games later this year when the Golden State Warriors and Washington Wizards play at Saitama Super Arena, the league said on Monday.

The exhibitions between the six-times NBA champion Warriors and Wizards on Sept. 30 and Oct. 2 outside Tokyo will mark the first NBA games in Japan since 2019 when the Toronto Raptors and Houston Rockets played two games.

For the Warriors and Wizards, this will mark their first visits to Japan.

The Warriors currently feature two-time league Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry and five-time All-Star Klay Thompson, who have been to five NBA Finals and won three titles together.

The Wizards roster includes three-time All-Star Bradley Beal, Latvian forward Kristaps Porzingis and Rui Hachimura, who in 2019 became the first Japanese player in league history to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft.

Between 1990 and 2003, the NBA staged 12 regular-season games in Japan in Saitama City, Tokyo and Yokohama and then in 2019 held its first exhibitions games there.

Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto Editing by Christian Radnedge

Source: Reuters

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