Travel is a big part of the NBA experience, with players logging tens of thousands of miles over the course of a season. There are distinct advantages to flying private charters and staying in first-class hotels, but the athletes usually don’t have much time to enjoy all the perks given the busy practice and game schedule and little down time from October – June. Players can make the most of their travel time in the offseason and some, like the Denver Nuggets’ Mason Plumlee, have used the summer months to see the world.
Plumlee has made stops on almost every continent, visiting China, the Middle East, Europe and Africa over the past two years alone. He has even run his own basketball camp in Dubai. Part of Plumlee’s international travel experience is a result of playing for the US Men’s National Team, participating in the FIBA World Cup in Spain in 2014 and in China in 2019. Part of the training for the 2019 Cup took place in Australia, adding another continent to his list.
Plumlee has also spent a lot of time seeing different parts of this country, having played on teams in three different time zones (Brooklyn, Portland and Denver), growing up in the Midwest (Indiana) and playing high school and college ball in North Carolina. Few players in any sport have had such a geographically diverse career.
Plumlee has said that one of the best parts of playing basketball is that the game has allowed him to see the world, opening up relationships with people from different places, cultures, and backgrounds. It’s those relationships that he values most. He’s got friends everywhere, and sometimes they join him in his travel experiences, like those pictured here. While there’s still a great deal of uncertainty regarding travel and things like dating and socializing during the summer of 2020, Mason Plumlee will no doubt find ways to get back on the road and spend time with his friends around the world.