Editor’s note: this list only includes games played between two NBA teams. It does not include games between an NBA team and a non-NBA team.

1) Rockets vs. Mavericks, Mexico, 1992
2) Rockets vs. Mavericks, Mexico, 1997

With a population of 21 million, close proximity to the U.S., and a steady rise in basketball popularity, Mexico City is now considered one of the top options for NBA expansion. But the league got off to a rocky start there, when a 1992 exhibition game between the Rockets and Mavericks, played just a few months after the “Dream Team” took gold at the Olympics, was plagued by technical and logistical issues. This included a scoreboard malfunction leaving both teams unaware of the score during the game, and Hakeem Olajuwon tumbling awkwardly to the floor on the sidelines when the faulty chair underneath him crumpled. One year later, a Knicks-Rockets exhibition game in Mexico City went off relatively smoothly but was severely overshadowed by major earthquake that had occurred just days earlier. But the NBA persevered in Mexico, expanding to a four-team preseason tournament in 1994, followed by staging a regular season game in 1997. A sellout crowd at the Palacio de los Deportes watched as Charles Barkley lead the Rockets to a 108-106 victory over the Mavericks. It took 16 years for the NBA to return to Mexico City and that game was rescheduled and relocated due to a flooded generator that filled the arena with smoke just hours before tip-off. Regardless of all these hiccups, Adam Silver and the NBA league office still consider Mexico City a viable future franchise home, and regular season games in the city have become a staple of the league schedule over the last few years.

3) Huskies vs. Knicks, Canada, 1946

One of our favorite pieces of trivia on this site is that the first NBA game wasn’t played in the United States. The inaugural NBA season (then called the Basketball Association of America, or BAA) in ’46-’47 featured 11 teams, most of which were founded by hockey franchise owners to fill their arenas more regularly. This naturally included a team based in Toronto, the Huskies, who shared Maple Leafs Garden with their NHL compatriots. The first game in NBA history thus took place in the North, with the visiting New York Knicks defeating the Huskies 68-66. On the historic night, New York’s Ossie Schectman scored the first basket, Toronto’s player-coach Ed Sadowski was the leading scorer with 18 points, and any fan taller than Toronto’s 6’8″ George Nostrand received free admission. Sadowski wound up as one of four coaches for Toronto that season, as the team slumped to a 22-38 record amidst lukewarm local reception. They were one of four franchises to fold after just one season, and it took 48 years for Canada to receive a new NBA team, the Toronto Raptors. They hosted a commemorative game in 1996 to mark the league’s 50th anniversary, losing again to the Knicks.

4) Suns vs. Nets, Italy, 1984

The first country to host an NBA exhibition game overseas, Italy has arguably the deepest basketball history of any country outside the United States. Its pro league, the Lega Basket Serie A, actually predates the NBA by 26 years and their national team has participated in 12 Olympics, the most of any European squad. The first non-American in NBA history was Italian Henry Biasatti in 1946, and Italy became the main stopping point for the early influx of Americans playing overseas in the ’70s and ’80s (most notably Danny Ferry). In the summer of 1984, the Nets and Suns played a series of friendlies against Serie A clubs before matching up against each other in Milan. Though the contests were still just exhibitions, the league office took them seriously, with commissioner David Stern traveling to Italy to attend several games and field questions about potential NBA expansion into Europe. Italy has hosted numerous NBA preseason games since, including as recently as 2015, but still not a regular season game.

5) Suns vs. Jazz, Japan, 1990

A full decade before the vastly more popular MLB made its Japanese debut, the NBA tipped off its ’90-’91 season with a pair of games in Tokyo. It was the first ever regular season Global Games contest and featured two legitimate Western Conference contenders in the Jazz and Suns (was it a coincidence that both franchises were about to receive new arenas funded in large part by Japanese corporations? Uhhhh, ummmm, hey, look over there! It’s John Stockton!). David Stern and the league office ensured authenticity by importing an official NBA court, shot clocks, and even the mascots to the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. Tom Chambers led Phoenix to a 119-96 win in the first game, while Utah won the follow-up 102-101 behind 29 points from Karl Malone. The games were enough of a success for the NBA to stage its season openers in Tokyo five more times over the next 14 years, eventually relocating to the much larger Tokyo Dome due to ticket demand. After a 15-year absence, the NBA is returning to Japan in 2019 with a pair of preseason games taking place in Saitama.

6) Magic vs. Hawks, England, 1993
7) Nets vs. Raptors, England, 2011

Of course, the first NBA preseason game and regular season game to take place in Europe were both staged in the basketball hotbed of… England? Ok. To be fair, the sport has deep roots in the country, getting introduced soon after its 1893 inception by a British YMCA director who visited James Naismith in Canada. Great Britain participated in basketball as a demonstration sport at the 1924 Olympics and the first official basketball association in the country was founded in 1936. But there was still a heavy learning curve for the average Brit when the Magic took on the Hawks in an exhibition battle at Wembley Arena in the summer of 1993, one year after the “Dream Team” took Barcelona by storm. It was likely a first live look at NBA level talent for about 99% of the attendees, who were treated to a barrage of dunks from Shaquille O’Neal and Dominique Wilkins. The NBA subsequently spread its preseason scheduling to France, Spain, Germany, and Italy, but England was chosen again for the 2011 regular season Europe debut. A pair of games took place between the Nets and Raptors in the brand new O2 Arena, constructed for London’s upcoming hosting of the 2012 Olympics. Following the success of those games and the Olympics tournament, the NBA has played eight more regular season games in England.

8) Heat vs. Bullets, Bahamas, 1991

How did a tiny island nation with a population under half a million and only tenuous basketball history (as the birthplace of Mychal Thompson) get chosen as the third country in the NBA Global Games tour? It was the pet project of Ted Arison, founder and owner of the Heat, CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, and notorious tax cheater. In a makeshift arena touted as “the biggest tent in the world” at Arison’s Carnival Crystal Palace Resort in Nassau, the Heat and Bullets played a 1991 preseason game in front of just 4,500 fans. It was a logistical and financial nightmare for the NBA and Arison, who shelled out millions of dollars to import the backboards, floor, scoreboard, bleachers, and even the ball. This lends credence to the conspiracy that this game was some sort of tax avoidance and/or money laundering scheme for the billionaire cruise magnate. The NBA has not returned to the Bahamas since, but the archipelago has continued to produce NBA talent. This includes Lakers champion Rick Fox and Naismith Award winner Buddy Hield, who led the Bahamas to a surprise title in the 2014 Caribbean Basketball Cup.

9) Rockets vs. Kings, China, 2004

It’s an emerging economy in a country of 1.3 billion, with no sport possessing a previous foothold on the populace, not even soccer. This is the perfect storm for NBA expansion and David Stern and Adam Silver have summarily made China a centerpiece of their global marketing and branding. It crested in 2002, when Shanghai-born Yao Ming was the first pick of the NBA draft and an instant superstar. Two years later, Yao returned to his hometown as the Rockets played the first regulation NBA game in China, a preseason tilt against the Kings (who featured Chinese born Liu Wei at the time). Stern and the league office threw the full might of NBA marketing behind the event and Chinese fans turned out in droves. Though this was a new era for the NBA in China, the league’s roots in the country date back to at least 1979, when the Bullets played an exhibition game in Beijing against a Chinese military all-star team. Though the country has failed to produce a solid NBA level talent since Yao, popularity of the sport continues to expand and 23 preseason games have been played in China since 2004 (though not yet a regular season one).

10) Pacers vs. Rockets, Philippines, 2013
11) Bulls vs. Wizards, Brazil, 2013

The 20th and 21st countries respectively to host NBA preseason or regular season games, Philippines and Brazil joined the list in October of 2013. These were easy choices as targeted markets for the league. The Philippines, with a population of 106 million, has ties to the sport dating back to the late 1890s, when U.S. troops stationed there for the Spanish-American War introduced locals to the game. The Philippines participated in the first Olympics basketball tournament in 1936 and took bronze at the second ever FIBA World Cup in 1954. In 1979, the same year Ricardo Brown became the first Filipino drafted by an NBA team, the Washington Bullets played an exhibition game against a team of Philippine Basketball Association all-stars. The sport only grew in popularity and in 2013, the Pacers and Rockets faced off in a preseason game at the Mall of Asia Arena in Manila. Brazil, with a population of 209 million, was also an early adopter of basketball, first discovering the sport in 1896. The Brazilian national team was arguably the second best in the world from the late ’40s through early ’60s, earning two FIBA World Cup titles and three Olympic medals. One year after the Bulls and Wizards played the first ever NBA game in Brazil, in Rio, the NBA struck a deal with the country’s top pro league, providing marketing, licensing, and other resources to help grow the sport in the populous nation.