The NBA's first official overseas preseason games were played in 1978 when the then reigning champions Washington Bullets played the Maccabi Tel Aviv.
However, the league's first preseason game between NBA teams to be held outside of the United States was in 1984 at the Palazzo dello Sport di San Siro in Milan, Italy when the Phoenix Suns beat the New Jersey Nets 148-121.
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After 1984, NBA teams competed abroad again in 1991. And since then, there have been multiple preseason games between NBA teams played abroad nearly every year with the last being in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over 15 countries have hosted preseason games between NBA teams with China hosting the most with 25.
| Country | Total games | First game | Last game | Cities |
| Italy | 2 | Sep. 11, 1984 | Oct. 6, 2007 | Milan, Rome |
| Bahamas | 1 | Oct. 20, 1991 | Nassau | |
| Mexico | 15 | Oct. 27, 1992 | Oct. 7, 2012 | Mexico City, Monterrey |
| Puerto Rico | 6 | Oct. 30, 1993 | Oct. 10, 2006 | San Juan |
| United Kingdom | 6 | Oct. 30, 1993 | Oct. 4, 2010 | London, |
| France | 4 | Oct. 18, 1994 | Oct. 6, 2010 | Paris |
| Germany | 3 | Oct. 18, 1996 | Oct. 14, 2008 | Berlin, Cologne |
| Spain | 2 | Oct. 20, 2006 | Oct. 17, 2008 | Seville, Barcelona |
| Dominican Republic | 1 | Oct. 11, 2002 | Santo Domingo | |
| China | 25 | Oct. 14, 2004 | Oct. 12, 2019 | Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Macao |
| Taiwan | 2 | Oct. 8, 2009 | Oct. 13, 2013 | Taipei |
| Phillippines | 1 | Oct. 10, 2013 | Manila | |
| Brazil | 2 | Oct. 12, 2013 | Oct. 11, 2014 | Rio de Janeiro |
| India | 2 | Oct. 4, 2019 | Oct. 5, 2019 | Mumbai |
| Japan | 2 | Oct. 8, 2019 | Oct. 10, 2019 | Saitama |
| Canada | 1 | Oct. 17, 2019 | Vancouver |
In 2019 alone, the NBA played preseason games in over four countries - India, China, Japan and Canada.
Countries like Japan, Mexico, United Kingdom and France are the only four ever to have hosted both preseason and regular-season NBA games.
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