2020 Jr. NBA Global Championship goes virtual amid pandemic

MANILA, Philippines—Usually held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, this year’s Jr. NBA Global Championship will be held virtually as a precaution to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Jr. NBA Global Championship is an annual youth basketball tournament for the top 13 and 14-year-old boys and girls teams from across the globe where they also receive top-level coaching from NBA coaches and former players.

Kai Sotto is an alumnus of the Jr. NBA Global Championship which pits kids from Africa, Asia Pacific, Canada, China, Europe and the Middle East, India, Mexico, Latin America, and the United States against each other.

To compensate for the lack of face-to-face interaction, the NBA will use the Homecourt app so that players can still compete in virtual basketball competitions.

Teams from each region will be placed into U.S. and international brackets that will feature single-elimination competitions between two different regions each week.

The respective US and international winners will then face-off in the global championship in August.

Players will also attend leadership and life skills development sessions alongside NBA and WNBA with topics centered on social justice, race, gender, mental health, wellness, and the creation of inclusive environments.

They are also encouraged to design and donate a piece of art that represents their ideals of global unity and social change through the lens of basketball, which will then be used to inspire a mural that would be given to a community in Orlando.

Lastly, players will participate in a cross-cultural experience that would allow kids from different countries to meet and learn from each other.

Competitions will be held over the next several weeks and will culminate in August with a Jr. NBA Day of Celebration in Orlando as part of the NBA restart.