Only four

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA) games have ever been played outdoors. The first outdoor game was played between the Phoenix Suns and the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

on September 24, 1972 at

Hiram Bithorn Stadium Hiram Bithorn Stadium (Spanish: Estadio Hiram Bithorn) is a baseball park in San Juan, Puerto Rico, built in 1962 and designed by Puerto Rican architect Pedro Miranda. It is operated by the municipal government of the city of San Juan. Its name ho ...

, a baseball park in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

, during that year's preseason. The Suns defeated the Bucks, 116–103. The NBA did not schedule another outdoor game after that, citing weather as a major obstacle. However, in 2008, the Phoenix Suns planned to play a preseason game outdoors at the

Indian Wells Tennis Garden The Indian Wells Tennis Garden is a tennis facility in Indian Wells, near Palm Springs, California, in the Coachella Valley. The 16,100-capacity Stadium 1 is the largest stadium at the tennis complex, and the second largest outdoor tennis stad ...

Indian Wells, California Indian Wells is a city in Riverside County, California, in the Coachella Valley. Incorporated in 1967, it lies in between the cities of Palm Desert and La Quinta. As of the 2010 Census, the city population was 4,958. The city hosts the sixt ...

. The idea reportedly came from Suns part-owner Dick Heckmann, who presented it to Suns president and CEO Rick Welts. The game was played at the tennis arena on October 11, 2008, between the Suns and the Denver Nuggets. Both teams, affected by low temperature (around ) and high wind (at ), struggled from the field as they shot below 40 percent and hit only 3 out of 27 from the three-point line. Key players, including

Carmelo Anthony Carmelo Kyam Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been named an NBA All-Star ten times and an All-NBA Team ...

, Allen Iverson, and

Amar'e Stoudemire Amar'e Carsares Stoudemire ( ; he, אמארה יהושפט סטודמאייר; born November 16, 1982) is an American-Israeli professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as a player development assistant for the Bro ...

, missed the game due to injury. In the end, the Nuggets defeated the Suns, 77–72. Due to the success of the 2008 game, the Suns decided to schedule more outdoor games in upcoming preseasons. On October 10, 2009, the Suns met the Golden State Warriors at Indian Wells. Due to poor weather, both teams struggled to find the basket as they shot just above 40 percent. Warriors' Anthony Morrow had the game high 30 points, while

Channing Frye Channing Thomas Frye (born May 17, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. A power forward- center, he played college basketball for the University of Arizona. He was drafted eighth overall by the New York Knicks in the 200 ...

led the Suns with 16 points. The Warriors won the game 104–101. A third game at Indian Wells was played on October 9, 2010, between the Suns and the Dallas Mavericks. Unlike the previous games, the weather was warm and windless. The Suns won for the first time, defeating the Mavericks 98–90. Five Suns players scored in double figures; Grant Hill led with 16. J. J. Barea had 13 to lead the Mavericks.

Dirk Nowitzki Dirk Werner Nowitzki (, ; born June 19, 1978) is a German former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at , he is widely regarded as one of the gre ...

sat out the game. All modern outdoor games were televised on

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

. The WNBA has had one regular season game played outside, the

Liberty Outdoor Classic The Liberty Outdoor Classic was the first regular-season professional basketball game played outdoors. It was played between the Indiana Fever and New York Liberty of the Women's National Basketball Association on July 19, 2008, as part of the 200 ...

, held at

Arthur Ashe Stadium Arthur Ashe Stadium is a tennis stadium at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. Part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, it is the main stadium of the US Open tennis tournament and has a capacity of 23,771, ...

Flushing, New York Flushing is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the New York City borough of Queens. The neighborhood is the fourth-largest central business district in New York City. Downtown Flushing is a major commercial and retail area, and the i ...

on July 19, 2008.

References

{{Phoenix Suns Outdoor games Outdoor games Women's National Basketball Association