Sydney Kings captain Kevin Lisch has more reasons than most of his colleagues to want to face NBA side Utah Jazz in a historic pre-season basketball game in the United States next week.
The star guard was part of a Kings side which flew out of Sydney on Thursday in preparation for the match in Salt Lake City next Tuesday (AEST).
It will be the first time an NBL team has travelled to the US to play an NBA team, with Melbourne United and Brisbane Bullets playing the Oklahoma City Thunder and Phoenix Suns respectively the following week.
For American-born Lisch the game represents a rare opportunity for his family to watch him play.
"As a player, as a competitor, you want to play the best guys, teams in the world, so we're really looking forward to that experience and I'm excited to get to see my family again," Lisch told AAP.
"They will probably fly from St Louis to Utah and I can't wait to see them. They've not seen me play that much.
"My parents saw me play in person in my first year in Perth which was eight years ago, so it's exciting."
The Kings head into the game with Utah off back-to-back pre-season losses to defending NBL champions Perth Wildcats.
They blew a 15-point lead in the 86-85 loss to the Wildcats in Sydney on Wednesday after losing 88-77 on Monday.
"Hopefully we' can get some rest on the plane because we had a game last night," Kings' coach Andrew Gaze said.
"Even for some of the guys they will do a little bit of a recovery session on the plane, which sounds a little bit odd.
"But we need to get some stretching in to make sure that we're in good shape when we land."
