 Oscar Robertson is immediate past president of the Retired NBA Players Association (XNBA), which provides pension administration, medical coverage and other benefits for former NBA players. In 1998, ABC Promotions, the marketing arm of the Asian Basketball Confederation, invited the XNBA to assemble a team of former NBA stars for an exhibition tour against the Chinese National Team. Oscar Robertson served as coach of the XNBA Legends team, which consisted of these players:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Alton Lister Moses Malone Forwards: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Big O’s teammate on the 1971 NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks, is the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, and Tom Chambers, Adrian Dantley, Walter Davis, Alex English and Moses Malone are all members of the 20,000-point club. The Chinese National Team, much younger and in prime physical condition, consisted of:
Fang Bin Li Xiaoyong Liu Qiang Hu Weidong Zhang Jinsong Li Nan Liu Yudong Gong Xiaobin Sun Jun Jilin Bateer Wang Zhizhi Ding Wei Zhang Wenqi Coach: Wang Fei Assistant Coach: Zhang Bin Two games were played in Shanghai and one each in Hefei and Beijing. Several clinics were held, featuring The Big O, various players and Tom McCarthy, president of ABC Promotions. Coach and players also took part in media conferences, interviews, autograph sessions, sightseeing tours and shopping trips. All four games were televised across China and to other Asian countries via satellite on ESPN/STAR Sports to a total audience of over 1 billion viewers. The title sponsor of the tour was Thakral Media Corporation, a leading distributor of consumer electronic and household electrical products in China. Other sponsors included Amway, New Balance, 3M and New Zealand Milk Products. China Southern Airlines was the official airline.
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