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Former Wizards player Jarell Eddie signed with Saudi team Al Ittihad for the 2025-26 season.
Ex-Warriors player Alfonzo McKinnie joined Saudi team Al-Ahli Jeddah for the 2025-26 season.
So what's the league about? Early discussions are of a touring model with six men’s and six women’s teams playing in eight cities, none of which is likely to be in the United States. Investors include the Singapore government, SC Holdings, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, a Macau casino operator, UBS, Skype founder Geoff Prentice and former Facebook executive Grady Burnett, according to the Financial Times. Reports have linked VC firm Quiet Capital, tech investor Byron Deeter and Hong Kong-based Galaxy Entertainment to the effort.
Sela, the events company owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, has agreed to become the operating partner for the proposed new league, which would feature six men’s and six women’s teams travelling to eight cities around the world. Macau and Singapore are in line to be hosts, with the Singaporean government and casino operator Galaxy Entertainment signalling their support for the project.
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Basketball is huge in Asia, especially in China, and decision makers in places like Singapore, Macau and beyond are eager to add new forms of entertainment to boost local tourism. This is not a Saudi-led project. “The thesis is simple: basketball is a global game, and the world wants more of it,” said Neil Meyer, global co-head of media and telecom at UBS.
Shaquille O’Neal, the 7-foot-1 NBA legend who moonlights as DJ Diesel, will be back on the turntables as the headliner of the first Sports Illustrated LIV Golf Experience, a live entertainment event announced Tuesday morning by the Saudi Arabia-backed tour.
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This won’t be O’Neal’s first time DJing in the D-FW area. Last year in Fort Worth, he launched Shaq’s Bass All-Stars Festival, which drew some 15,000 attendees, according to festival organizers. The festival recently announced it is returning to Cowtown this November.
Former Thunder player Perry Jones signed with Saudi team Al Ahli Jeddah for the 2024-25 season.
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