On October 3, 2018, the first-ever FIBA World Basketball Summit ("Summit") took place in Xi'an, China. Themed "Building the Future of Basketball Together", the Summit was sponsored by FIBA, CBA, Sports Bureau of Shaanxi, Xi'an Government, and was organized by Shaanxi Sports Administration Centre of Basketball and Volleyball, Shaanxi Basketball Association, Sports Bureau of Xi'an. Invited by Benjamin Cohen, Director General of FIBA Legal Department and Frank Leenders, Director General of FIBA Media, Marketing Services SA, David Wu from Llinks Law Offices also joined the Summit.
In the two days' vacancy, the Summit is structured around a number of key themes, such as successful strategies for developing the sport of basketball worldwide, optimizing the value of leagues and their clubs, how media and technology will shape the future of basketball, maximizing the value of the relationship between basketball and brands and the role that the sport of basketball can play in our society.
Over 200 high-ranking personalities in world basketball, from top level officials and management personnel in federations, clubs and leagues to business leaders and heads of corporations, participate in the Summit, including the "Big Three", Mr. Patrick Baumann, General Secretary, FIBA & International Olympic Committee Member, Mr. Yao Ming, President of Chinese Basketball Association and Mr. Adam Silver, Commissioner of NBA.
Along with the "Big Three", Mr. Andrei Kirilenko, President of Russian Federation of Basketball and NBA All-Star Player, Mr. Alfredo Panlilio, President of Basketball Federation of the Philippines, Mr. Antti Zitting, President of Finnish Basketball Federation, Mr. Mark Tatum, Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of NBA, Mr. Tomas Van Den Spiegel, President of Union of European Leagues of Basketball, Mr. Cao Weidong, Chairman of Beijing Sport University, Mr. Wang Xuan, General Director of Basketball Administration Centre, Mr. Wang Yi, Party Secretary of Shandong Sports University and President of National Basketball College, Mr. Gong Luming, Vice-President of Chinese Basketball Association also respectively delivered keynote speech. Besides, Mr. Casey Wasserman, Chairman and CEO of Wasserman and Chairman of the LA 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Ms. Caitlyn Chen, Vice-President of Tencent, as well as famous former basketball players such as Ms. Zheng Haixia, Mr. Mengke Bateer, Mr. Zhu Fangyu, and Mr. Stephon Marbury also joined the Summit.
