The NBA Phoenix Suns will take on the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs in the first consecutive regular-season games in Mexico on Jan. 12 and 14, respectively, at the Mexico City Arena. The games will mark the first time the league hosts two regular season games in Mexico in the same season. The NBA is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its first game in Mexico (NBA). In Phoenix, Paul Coro wrote this "will be the first time the Suns will play a regular-season game outside the U.S. or Canada" since they opened the '90-91 season with two games in Tokyo against the Utah Jazz. The NBA and the Suns announced the games formally at a news conference that included Suns coach Earl Watson, whose maternal grandparents emigrated from Mexico. The Suns also were the "first organization to have a Mexican-born player" when Horacio Llamas signed in '98 (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/20). In San Antonio, Tim Griffin reported the Spurs' last scheduled game in Mexico City with the Minnesota Timberwolves "never came off" in '13, when it was "postponed because of smoky conditions inside the Mexico City Arena" (SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS, 7/20).
