NBA Canada Series presented by Bell in Montréal: By the Numbers
MONTRÉAL – The 10th edition of The NBA Canada Series presented by Bell will feature the Toronto Raptors and the Washington Wizards playing a preseason game at the Bell Centre in Montréal on Sunday, Oct. 6. The game will air live in Canada on TSN and RDS at 7:30 p.m. ET. 2024 Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee and Raptors legend Vince Carter, former Raptor and nine-year NBA veteran Jerome Williams, and WNBA veteran and Canadian Women’s National Team member Natalie Achonwa will attend the game and surrounding fan and youth engagement events.
Below is a by-the-numbers look at the 2024 NBA Canada Series presented by Bell in Montréal:
NBA Canada Series presented by Bell:
• 12,000 – “Maison NBA”, a free, interactive fan and cultural experience celebrating the NBA and the league’s history in Canada, will take place at the historic Crew Collective & Café in Old Montréal spanning more than 12,000 square feet. Once the tallest landmark in Canada, the building was constructed in 1926. Fans can visit NBA.com/Maison for more details and to register for tickets.
• 2001 – Fan favourite Jerome “Junk Yard Dog” Williams joined the Raptors in 2001 as part of a trade with the Detroit Pistons.
• 30 – The Raptors are celebrating their 30th anniversary during the 2024-25 season.
• 24 – The Wizards selected Swiss-Canadian forward Kyshawn George with the 24th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. George’s dad, Deon, was born in Montréal and played for the Canadian Men’s National Team.
• 22 – Raptors legend Vince Carter played 22 NBA seasons, more than any player in league history to date. Carter headlines the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
• 18 – Since 2012, The NBA Canada Series has featured 18 preseason games across six cities.
• 9 – Nine partners will support The NBA Canada Series 2024: presenting partner Bell, as well as Emirates, Hennessy, Hershey, Michelob Ultra, Microsoft Canada, Subway, Sun Life and Tangerine Bank.
• 8 – This year’s matchup will mark the eighth NBA Canada Series game in Montréal, the most Canada Series games played in any Canadian city outside of Toronto.
• 5 – The Wizards recently launched French language social media channels on Instagram and X (@WashWizardsFRA), marking the team’s fifth international language account, the most in the NBA.
• 4 – WNBA veteran Natalie Achonwa is the first Canadian Women’s National Team member to appear in four Olympic Games (2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024).
• 3 – Three players from the Raptors and Wizards represented their countries at the 2024 Paris Olympics: RJ Barrett (Raptors; Canada), Bilal Coulibaly (Wizards; France) and Kelly Olynyk (Raptors; Canada).
• 2 – The Wizards selected Alex Sarr (France) with the second overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
• 1 – This year marks the first time the Raptors will hold their training camp in Montréal and second time in Quebec (Toronto trained in Quebec City in 2019).
Basketball in Canada
• 6,100,000 – More than six million fans from Canada follow the NBA’s global and localized social media accounts across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, X and YouTube.
• 16,655 – The second consecutive sold-out WNBA Canada Game presented by Tangerine, which featured the Los Angeles Sparks and the Seattle Storm playing a preseason game in Edmonton, AB in May, generated attendance of 16,655 and a 65% year-over-year increase in viewership from the prior season’s WNBA Canada Game held in Toronto.
• 2026 – The WNBA recently awarded Toronto an expansion team, marking the league’s first outside the U.S. The new team will begin play in the 2026 season as the WNBA’s 14th franchise.
• 148 – 2024 regular-season WNBA viewership in Canada is up 148% year-over-year.
• 26 – There were a record 26 Canadian players on opening-night rosters for the 2023-24 NBA season, marking the 10th consecutive season in which Canada was the most-represented country outside of the U.S.
• 10 – Oshae Brissett became the 10th Canadian player to win an NBA Championship when the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 NBA Finals.