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).

3Three 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.