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David Stern himself put it this way All-Star weekend: “…we’re going to be doing lots of exhibition traveling, I have no doubt, this coming preseason.”

How about to the Philippines?

There is a report out of interaksyon.com that the SM Mall of Asia Arena will host the first ever NBA preseason game in the basketball-crazy nation.

InterAKTV has learned that the Houston Rockets and the Indiana Pacers are set to do battle at the venue on October 10. A new conference has been scheduled on Tuesday to announce the details of the game… “Hans Sy was invited by Commissioner Stern during the All-Star Game, and Hans told the Commissioner that he has an arena that is suitable for hosting one of the NBA games,” said Junel Baculi, the athletic director of National University which is part of the SM Group.

Go to the official SM Mall of Asia Arena web site and it has an NBA logo with the words “BIG things are coming” but nothing more.

None of this has been officially confirmed by the league. Yet. The Arena opened last year in Pasay, Philippines, which is in the Manilla metropolitan area. The building can host around 16,000 for a basketball game. It also hosts concerts and the like, if you want to see Journey apparently tickets are on sale now.

This seams fitting — Kobe Bryant and Derrick Rose headlined an exhibition game in the Philippines during the lockout that drew huge crowds and interest. While the NBA plugs along trying to get its brand as a foothold in India, in China and the Philippines it has a ready-made large audience to tap.

Bringing the Rockets would bring Jeremy Lin and his international fame, not to mention James Harden’s beard.