NEW YORK – The National Basketball Association (NBA) today announced plans for the league’s eighth annual Latin nights program titled Noches éne•bé•a (eh-nay-bay-ah), which will feature seven commemorative games and celebrate the growing support of NBA fans and players across Latin American and U.S. Hispanic communities.

The Noches éne•bé•a games, four of which will air nationally on ABC, TNT, and NBA TV, will include special telecasts, in-arena festivities, and distinctive NBA team uniforms to be worn by six teams: Chicago Bulls (Los Bulls), San Antonio Spurs (Los Spurs), Phoenix Suns (Los Suns), Los Angeles Lakers (Los Lakers), Miami Heat (El Heat), and New York Knicks (Nueva York).  Additionally, for the first time, all 30 NBA teams will wear specially-designed Noches éne•bé•a shooting shirts from adidas, the league’s official oncourt apparel provider, during the first two weeks of March.

In addition, seven-time NBA All-Star and U.S.-born Hispanic player Carmelo Anthony will tip off the festivities by appearing on the first éne•bé•a original TV spot to feature an NBA player.

“With Hispanic fans comprising 18 percent of the league’s fan base, we have a responsibility to be inclusive and deliver customized experiences that connect with our fans in meaningful ways,” said Saskia Sorrosa, NBA Vice President of Multicultural Marketing.  “Noches éne•bé•a is a perfect example of the NBA’s ongoing commitment to celebrating diversity as part of the fabric of our game.”

As the league’s marquee program under the éne•bé•a platform, a comprehensive initiative to grow the game of basketball throughout the expanding U.S. Hispanic market, Noches éne•bé•a events will also be supported with television and radio advertising on both English- and Spanish-language media across the country as well as on the league’s Spanish-language Web site, enebea.com, and social media pages.

A special feature of the Noches éne•bé•a games will be the adidas-designed uniforms that display team names as spoken by the bicultural, bilingual Latino population and Spanish-language TV and radio announcers.  The Miami Heat, for example, is “El Heat,” and the San Antonio Spurs are referred to as “Los Spurs.”  New uniforms with the updated Noches éne•bé•a logo and unique patterns on the back of the jerseys, as well as additional  Noches éne•bé•a merchandise, are available at NBAStore.com, NBA Store on Fifth Avenue in New York City, and in-arena stores for participating teams.

Noches éne•bé•a 2014 Schedule:

About the NBA

The NBA is a global sports and media business built around three professional sports leagues: the National Basketball Association, the Women’s National Basketball Association, and the NBA Development League.  The league has established a major international presence with games and programming in 215 countries and territories in 47 languages and NBA merchandise for sale in more than 125,000 stores in 100 countries on 6 continents.  NBA rosters at the start of the 2013-14 season featured a record 92 international players from 39 countries and territories.  NBA Digital’s assets include NBA TV, which is available in 60 million U.S. homes, and NBA.com, which set a record last year with more than 9.5 billion page views, with more than half of all visitors originating from outside of North America.  The NBA is the No. 1 professional sports league on social media, with more than 500 million likes and followers globally across all league, team, and player platforms.  Through NBA Cares, the league and its teams and players have donated more than $230 million to charity, completed more than 2.8 million hours of hands-on community service, and created more than 860 places where kids and families can live, learn, or play.