NBA connects international fans with legends and superstars via live Q&A

By Keith Nelson Jr. April 15, 2015

nba fan appreciation day schedule lin — Image used with permission by copyright holder

For the last eight months, millions of people have given their time, money, and fandom to the NBA, and it wants to give thanks. The NBA is set to kick off Fan Appreciation Day by giving fans the chance to have live Q&A sessions with 24 current NBA players and legends across six different continents on Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, and Line. A rep with the NBA informed DigitalTrends this will be the league’s “most ambitious fan appreciation social media promotion” and will include China, Africa, Italy, Turkey, Australia, and Indonesia among a bevy of other countries.

Shot blocking phenom Diekembe Mutumbo will be on the NBA Africa Facebook page, Miami Heat legend Tim Hardaway Sr will be on NBA Turkey Facebook page, and Detroit Pistons legend Isaiah Thomas will be on the NBA’s global Facebook page.

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In addition, Canada will offer multiple live Q&A sessions with NBA veteran Ben Gordon and NBA Rookie of the Year favorite Andrew Wiggins. Los Angeles Lakers point guard and Linsanity originator Jeremy Lin will be the only NBA player pulling triple duty with three live Q&A sessions in China, Indonesia, and Taiwan. Australia and France’s participating players have not been announced yet, but will be on each country’s respective Facebook page.

The participating NBA international Twitter accounts will be gifting fans with signed jerseys and basketballs, NBA League Pass playoff codes, and more. Fans will also be gifted with photo galleries of the top plays and moments of the 2014-2015 regular season, preview videos for this year’s playoffs, and video shout-outs from the players.

The 2014-2015 NBA season ends tonight and none of the participating players will be in the playoffs, which start on April 18, so they’ll have plenty of time on their hands to answer your questions. The live Q&A session will last between 8:30 a.m. EST until well after 10 p.m.

Check out a full list of players and countries participating below

Country/Region	Chat Time(EST)	Local Time	Player/Legend	Language	Platform
Greece	8:30am	3:30pm	Peja Stojakovic	Greek	Facebook
Africa	9am	3pm	Diekembe Mutumbo	English	Facebook
Germany	9am	3pm	Detlef Schrempf	German	Facebook
Mexico	11am	10am	Eduardo Najera	Spanish	Facebook
Brazil	12pm	1pm	Anderson Varejao	Portuguese	Facebook
Spain	12pm(TBD)	6pm(TBD)	Jose Calderon	Spanish	Facebook
Turkey	1:30pm	8:30pm	Tim Hardaway Sr	English	Facebook
Italy	2pm	8pm	Danillo Gallinari	Italian	Facebook
Argentina	2pm	3pm	Carlos Delfino	Spanish	Twitter
UK	4pm	9pm	James Worthy	English	Facebook
Canada	4pm	3pm	Ben Gordon	English	Facebook
Eneba	5pm	5pm	Jorge Gutierrez	Spanish	Facebook
Global	5:30pm	5:30pm	Isiah Thomas	English	Facebook
New Zealand	7pm	11am	Sean Marks	English	Facebook
Canada	8pm	7pm	Andrew Wiggins	English	Facebook
Japan	8pm	9am	Yuta Tabuse	Japanese	Facebook
India	9pm	730am	Sim Bhullar	English	Facebook
China	9pm	9am	Jeremy Lin	Chinese	Weibo
Indonesia (LINE account)	9:15pm	9:15am	Jeremy Lin	English	Line
Taiwan	9:30am	9:30am	Jeremy Lin	Chinese	Facebook
Indonesia (FB account)	10pm	10am	Gary Payton	Chinese	Facebook
Philippines	10pm	10am	Jordan Clarkson	English	Facebook
Australia	TBD	TBD	TBD	English	Facebook
France	TBD	TBD	TBD	French	Facebook

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Keith Nelson Jr.

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Keith Nelson Jr is a music/tech journalist making big pictures by connecting dots. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY he…

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