HIDALGO, TEXAS – Houston Rockets CEO Tad Brown and six-time All-Star Yao Ming (7-6, 310, China) announced Wednesday at halftime of the NBA Development League Rio Grande Valley Vipers game that the this year’s Rockets exhibition game on the Vipers' home court at State Farm Arena will be against the defending Eastern Conference Champion Orlando Magic on October 5 at 7:30 p.m.
The game will be preceded by the Rockets holding a portion of their training camp in the Rio Grande Valley, starting on October 3, at the McAllen Convention Center.
More details will be released at the end of the regular season.
“Given the success of last year’s Rockets camp and in paticular the pre-season game, we are very excited to have the Rockets return with a top quality opponent such as the defending Eastern Conferenc Champion Magic. We believe this will be an exciting weekend of basketball for residents of the Rio Grande Valley,” Vipers President Brian Michael Cooper said.
The Vipers hosted Rockets Training Camp and an exhibition win over the Boston Celtics last October in front of a record-crowd of 6,300.
The Rockets currently boast three former-Vipers, including starting point guard Aaron Brooks (6-0, 161, Oregon) and guards Will Conroy (6-2, 195, Washington) and Jermaine Taylor (6-4, 210, Central Florida).
The Rio Grande Valley Vipers are the NBA Development League affiliate of the NBA Houston Rockets. The NBA Development League, founded in 2001, is the NBA’s official minor league and features 16 teams with direct affiliations to NBA teams. 63 former NBA Development League players were on 2009-10 NBA start-of-season rosters, amounting to almost 15 percent of NBA players, and the league continues to develop coaches, referees, and front office staff for the NBA and its teams. In fostering the league’s connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote health and wellness, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA Development League Cares programs. The NBA Development League also advances the game of basketball as the research and development arm of the NBA. Throughout the season fans can watch all NBA Development League games on NBA Futurecast, the free live Web-streaming initiative found at nba.com/futurecast.