Argentina’s basketball fans got great (and unexpected) news on Thursday: the Golden Generation is meeting up again.
Twenty years on from their historic gold medal at Athens 2004, where they became the first — and so far only — team to beat the United States in the Olympics since it started fielding NBA players in 1992, the squad led by the likes of “Manu” Ginóbili and Luis Scola is getting ready to play one more game.
The plan was announced through a video that went viral on social media. In it, the members of the team along with coach Ruben Magnano confirm their presence in the form of a WhatsApp group chat.
The different players agree to drop whatever they were working on at the moment — with several having taken up other sports such as tennis, paddle, or fishing since their basketball days — and promise to get to work for the comeback, with plenty of inside jokes and references to their playing days.
The last one to confirm his presence is Ginóbili, the team’s biggest star. The Bahía Blanca native hit a historic last-minute winner in the team’s debut against world champions Serbia and Montenegro, which made him the team’s leading scorer in the tournament.
In the semifinals, Argentina beat a U.S. team featuring the likes of LeBron James, Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson, by a score of 89-81, with 29 points by Ginóbili. The defeat was considered a turning-point for NBA players, as shown in the documentary The Redeem Team on Netflix, where players like the late Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade said the loss compelled them to compete.
The meet-up game is scheduled to take place on November 2, at the Parque Roca, a multi-event venue in southern Buenos Aires City.
Tickets for the tribute game will be available through Enigma Tickets: presale tickets will be available on September 2 at 4 p.m. and then open to the general public as of September 3. Banco Nación members have a 15% discount and can pay in six interest-free installments.