Faried, Green here for NBA 3x at Mall of Asia

MANILA, Philippines - NBA players Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets and Danny Green of the San Antonio Spurs arrived yesterday to grace tomorrow’s NBA 3X 2015 Philippines at the Mall of Asia Activity Center in Pasay City.

This marks the fifth year that the NBA will hold the 3X festival highlighted by 3x3 competitions in the U13, U16 and U18 categories for boys, U16 for girls, Open classes for men and women and a by-invitation-only celebrity division.

With Faried and Green in the visiting party are the Golden State Warriors cheerdance team, including Fil-Ams Patrisha Festejo Yabes and Clarice Santiago Guido, and the Philadelphia 76ers mascot Franklin.

“We’re excited to be here in this beautiful country, the Philippines is really one of the countries I was hoping to go,” said Faried, drafted 22nd overall by the Nuggets four seasons ago and member of the US team that won the 2014 FIBA World Cup gold medal in Spain.

Competition starts at 3 p.m. and will conclude Sunday.

To spice up the event, there will be the Tattoo slam dunk contest, KFC Bucket 3-point shootout, NBA 3X Halftime with appearances of Faried, Green, the Warriors’ dance team and Frankie.

The official partners of the NBA 3X Philippines 2015 include adidas, Globe and Tattoo powered by Globe, KFC and Phoenix Petroleum, with SM Mall of Asia, Spalding, and Mang Tomas serving as supporting partners with ABS-CBN, Sports and Action, BTV and NBA Premium as official broadcasters.

Meanwhile, while Faried relishes his stint with the US basketball team, the man known as “The Manimal” hopes to get a crack at the NBA championship which Green has achieved with the Spurs two years ago.

“It was a great accomplishment for me, being part of the US team. It’s one of the top three things I want to achieve in my life. Hopefully, I could have a chance to win an NBA championship someday,” said Faried.

While he also wished to be part of the US squad someday, Green said winning an NBA ring is a dream come true.