Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul to come to Manila for exhibition games vs Smart Gilas Pilipinas

Kobe Bryant and Chris Paul. AFP Photos

MANILA, Philippines – Los Angeles Lakers’ superstar Kobe Bryant and New Orleans Hornets’ star playmaker Chris Paul will lead a group of NBA players who will parade their wares in Manila for a series of exhibition games on July 23 and 24 at the Araneta Coliseum.

This was announced by Talk N’ Text head coach Chot Reyes, one of the people behind the negotiations of the hoops event, on his Twitter account Friday morning.

Reyes, the executive director of the MVP Sports Foundation, also confirmed it in a press conference in the afternoon.

Sacramento Kings’ Tyreke Evans, LA Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan, Oklahoma City Thunder’s James Harden, Minnesota Timberwolves’ Derrick Williams and two others will also be joining in what has been dubbed as the Smart Ultimate All-Star Weekend.

The NBA All-Stars will take on Smart Gilas Pilipinas on July 24 at 1pm and against the PBA-selection on July 23 at 7pm.

The Nationals, who will be competing in the Fiba Asia Championship this September, scrapped their schedule European training in lieu of the event.

“We don’t want to bring them (NBA All-Stars) here and not do anything, we we really want them to play,” said Reyes. “They will give Gilas a good workout.”

Ticketnet has started selling tickets and as of 8:24pm, seats at the Upper Box A and B and General Admission are nearly sold out.

Patron seats are pegged at P5500, Lower Box at P3800, Upper A at P1500, Upper B at P800 and General Admission at P350.

Earlier speculations had reigning NBA MVP Derrick Rose and Fiba World Championship MVP Kevin Durant participating in the exhibition games, although they were not included in the announcement.

But with two names in the USA selection under the wraps, the possibility of NBA’s top young guns Rose and Durant playing in Manila is still possible.

The PBA also announced the 16-man line up who will play in the exhibition games.