Horacio Llamas knew the Phoenix Suns and the NBA were going to announce regular season games to be played in Mexico City. The league’s first Mexican-born player also knew he would play a significant role in the build-up to the event.
The problem was keeping all of that information to himself until the news was made official on Wednesday morning.
“Everyone asked me about all the rumors,” Llamas said. “Everyone was like, ‘Is it true?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know!’ I knew it was true, but I was trying to hide from everyone. I was going to explode.”
Llamas no longer needs to be silent. His former NBA team will be the home team in Mexico City for two consecutive regular season games in January. The occasion highlights the 25th anniversary of the NBA’s first game in Mexico, which occurred when Llamas was just 19 years old.
Since that time and after his two-season playing career with the Suns, the former 6-10 center has seen the league’s presence in his home nation grow by leaps and bounds.
Suns Are Headed to Mexico
“When the Suns went to play [in Mexico in 1996], I couldn’t see it,” Llamas said. “I couldn’t watch [Charles] Barkley play. When I heard [this year’s games] were going to be the Suns, for two regular season games, I was like, ‘My team is coming.'”
Llamas is not the only representative of the Suns with ties to Mexico. Head Coach Earl Watson’s maternal grandparents were born in that country, and he himself was raised by a mother who took pride in passing on that culture and heritage.
Watson is especially fond of his grandfather, who took his family to the United States to earn a better living. The green card he earned became an heirloom that represents family and hard work, two values that Watson has implemented heavily in his coaching philosophy.
“There’s a reason why family is such a big part of what I preach with our program and our team,” Watson said. “I got it from my mom, who got it from her father. It was always instilled in our culture and my personal family.”
The timing of the January games could not be more perfect for Watson, whose mother’s birthday (Jan. 8) is less than a week apart from the two contests (Jan. 12 and 14). As fond as he is of his family’s past, however, he is even more encouraged by the growing relationship between the Suns, Phoenix and Mexico.
“We talk about bridging gaps, overcoming walls, especially with culture,” Watson said. “For me, to overcome that wall is to take my personal family culture and heritage and bridge it now with the Phoenix Suns and the NBA.”
Because one end of that bridge begins in Arizona, the Suns will be the nominal “home team” for both Mexico City games. Watson, along with Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton, declared that was “no coincidence.”
Suns President Jason Rowley confirmed as much with his hope for the franchise and its future with its neighboring country.
“We really want to be the NBA team for Mexico,” Rowley said. “That’s our ultimate goal.”
