HONG KONG – Ramez Sheikh will step down as Managing Director of NBA Asia & India at the end of April, it was announced today by NBA Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer Mark Tatum.

Sheikh, who joined the NBA in 2016, has overseen the league’s business in the Asia-Pacific region since May 2022.  During his tenure, the NBA established an office in Singapore, hosted two sold-out Global Games and set up the first NBA Basketball School in Japan, opened the league’s largest store in the Philippines, and launched the first NBA Stores, NBA Basketball School and NBA Exhibitions in Australia.

Under Sheikh’s leadership, the NBA expanded media partnerships across the region, including broadcast partnerships with Rakuten (Japan), Cignal (Philippines), ESPN (Australia), SpoTV (Korea), Emtek (Indonesia) and more than 20 other broadcasters that make NBA games and programming available to fans in 18 Asia-Pacific countries and territories.  Sheikh, who was responsible for the NBA experiencing record consumption and growth across NBA League Pass and social media in the region and for expanding its pan-Asian footprint by growing the Jr. NBA program across Southeast Asia, also oversaw the growth of NBA fan acquisition and engagement, as well as the diversification of marketing, merchandise and direct-to-consumer partnerships.

“On behalf of the NBA, I want to thank Ramez for his stewardship and many contributions to growing and developing the game, business and affinity for basketball since joining the league more than seven years ago,” said Tatum.  “Basketball and the NBA are well-positioned to flourish in the region in large part because of Ramez’s efforts.”

“I want to thank Adam, Mark, Bill Koenig, Scott Levy and the teams in Hong Kong, Singapore, Manila, Mumbai and colleagues in New York and around the world who I had the privilege to learn from, lead and partner with,” said Sheikh.  “It has been a special journey to witness and experience the passion and power of the game of basketball to drive business, fandom and partnerships.”