2016 Team USA basketball exhibitions to live stream on Facebook

The NBA has announced that several Team USA exhibition basketball games will be shown on Facebook via live stream, starting Friday.

Just days after an announcement dropped that the NBA was partnering with Twitter to live stream NBA basketball, another social media platform has jumped on board. As of Thursday, it was reported via Sports Illustrated that the NBA is teaming up with Facebook to put Team USA exhibition basketball games on live stream to the masses.

The first of these games to be shown ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics will come on Friday, July 22 at 9 p.m. Eastern, as the United States goes at it with Argentina. The game will be simulcast as it appears on NBA TV.

While Argentina doesn’t have a roster stocked with NBA stars, there are a few worth mentioning. Manu Ginobli, Luis Scola and Andres Nocioni are among those who may be appearing in this match-up. The team is also considered one of the top three with a “shot” at taking down Team USA en route to the gold medal in Rio.

A total of nine exhibition game will be simulcast on Facebook Live, with one women’s game included. The men’s exhibition games will include two match-ups against China, and then a game each against France, Canada, Venezuela, Australia and Nigeria. The last of these, the Nigeria game, takes place on Aug. 1, just days ahead of the start of the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The games on Facebook will be “Presented by Verizon” and will feature other NBA content in place of advertisements. Reportedly, NBA will make money off this deal but not Facebook due to the structure. However, Facebook has been looking to really build up their video services in recent times, including Facebook Live, which has been embraced by a number of celebrities with large followings on the social media platform.

Facebook hasn’t been as active in live streaming major events with the exception of some of the Republican National Convention, thanks to a deal with ABC. Twitter had seemed to be the major player with these deals, but it appears both platforms feel this is part of the wave of the future for how many viewers will consume their sports events.

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