'Hoops Paradise': NBA explores Filipinos' love of basketball in new podcast

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is considered one of the most basketball-crazy places in the world, if not the most. And just how much Filipinos live and breathe the sport is not lost on a league even as big as the NBA.

In its latest project, the NBA takes a deep dive into the country's love affair with the sport of basketball.

ESPN's Cassidy Hubbarth, who is Filipino-American, joins forces with Titan's Nikko Ramos in a six-episode podcast series to explore the Philippines' connection with basketball.

Titled "Hoops Paradise: The Philippines Love of the Game," the podcast is set to talk about the history of the Philippines' passion for hoops, to Filipino Americans in the NBA today.

The podcast is set to launch on Tuesday, February 21, in partnership with iHeartPodcasts.

Philstar.com previewed the first episode ahead of its global debut and got the first listen to the episode which concretizes the Philippines' love for basketball.

From jaw dropping figures courtesy of Donna Reyes of NBA Philippines, to Hubbarth and Ramos' own experiences, the show fleshes out just how much basketball means to the Philippines.

"Picture a place where basketball is everywhere — from the air you breathe, to soil beneath your feet; where people hoop anywhere and everywhere from NBA-ready arenas to the middle of streets, to the slopes of active volcanoes; where the most common item in people's wardrobes is a jersey and a soundtrack to every day life is a bouncing ball. This place, this hoops heaven is the Philippines," Hubbarth says in the introduction.

The series is set to feature a number of figures in Philippine and NBA basketball like Raymond Townsend, the first Filipino-American player in the NBA, the PBA's winningest coach Tim Cone, Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra, Houston Rockets guard Jalen Green, ESPN host Pablo Torre, and NBA G League Assistant Coach Jimmy Alapag, among others.

Listen to the official audio trailer of Hoops Paradise: The Philippines Love of The Game here.

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Hoops Paradise: The Philippines' Love of the Game is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and will be available on the iHeart Radio app and everywhere podcasts are heard.