NBA fans gather to see favorite players hit the hardwood at Legacy Arena

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — 12,444 NBA fans gathered at Legacy Arena Tuesday to see some of their favorite players in person.

CBS 42 talked with everyone from basketball coaches to a father and son from Childersburg who attended their first-ever NBA game together. You never know who you’ll run into at an NBA exhibition game – Auburn’s former head basketball coach Bruce Pearl showed up to cheer on Jabari Smith Jr., who played for the Tigers before being drafted by the Houston Rockets in 2022.

Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant drew the loudest cheers. As did Pelicans forward Herb Jones — a former basketball star at Alabama. Among the thousands of cheering fans at Legacy Arena Tuesday night, a group of young basketball players from Phillips Academy in Birmingham:

“It means everything, because one day I know they want to be here, they want to be Kevin Durant, Jordan Poole, so it means everything to these guys,” noted assistant basketball coach Junius Harris.

Also in the cheering crowd at Legacy Arena, the Cullman High School basketball team. Josh Owens and his son Jackson drove in from Childersburg for the first graders very first NBA game. Owens said his son was very excited, and had been asking him how many days were left before the game for days.

They were rooting for the Pelicans and while the outcome wasn’t what they had hoped for, they enjoyed creating some special father and son memories. The Houston Rockets defeated the New Orleans Pelicans, 130-128.

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