Magic Johnson, Russell Westbrook, and Derrick Rose were among a group of NBA superstars set to travel to Israel to support a basketball team co-owned by Amare Stoudemire but the trip has been cancelled due to the Gaza conflict.
According to TMZ Sports the NBA group, which also included Robin and Brook Lopez and Hall of Famer Chris Mullin, was going to attend the opening of a new arena in Jerusalem on September 4.
The plan was for some of the players (not Magic or Mullin) to square off against Heopel Jerusalem, a team co-owned by Amare, tech entrepreneur Ori Allon and NBA super-agent Arn Tellem.
Organizers reportedly recently decided to pull the plug on the sold out game over safety concerns as the violence continued to escalate.
So far, there are no plans to reschedule but it’s gonna be tough since NBA training camps open in October and, more importantly, attempted cease-fires continue to fail.
