It’s official, the six-game, two-week, four-continent tour with a gaggle of NBA Superstars has been named, the World All-Star Classic. The tour will begin Sunday, October 30th in San Juan, Puerto Rico at Jose Miguel Agrelot Coliseum. From there, the tour will head over to London November 1st and 3rd at O2 Arena in London, Macau will host game 4 on November 6th at Cotai Arena at the Venetian Hotel, November 6th and finally Melbourne, Australia for the final two games on November 8th and 9th at Rod Laver Arena . In total there are 18 all-stars scheduled to play.
The line up will consist of Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James , Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire, Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, Blake Griffin, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Tyson Chandler,Steve Nash, Kevin Love, Carlos Boozer and Chris Bosh are expected to round out the participants
Each player will receive funds ranging from six figures to $1 million for their participation with some of the proceeds designated to charity.
An Atlanta businessman named Calvin Darden put the tour together. Darden sits on the boards of Target, Coca-Cola and Cardinal Health.
Bulls point guard Derrick Rose and Thunder guard Russell Westbrook both pulled out of the tour. Rose pulled out because he felt the schedule would be too much (Puerto Rico to London then to Macu… a lot of crisscrossing and time zones) and Westbrook hasn’t made a comment as to why he had canceled.
