This coming January, the National Basketball Association returns to the UK.

In what will be the league's eighth regular-season game here in the UK, last year's Eastern Conference finalists the Boston Celtics will take on the Philadelphia 76ers at the O2 Arena.

The game will take place on January 11th 2018 and tickets are available through this link .

This past week, the new NBA season got underway and on the opening day, the Celtics took LeBron James' Cavaliers close, eventually falling to a 102-99 defeat. Meanwhile, the 76ers kicked off their season with an evenly-contested defeat of their own, eventually falling 120-115 against the Washington Wizards.

In the post-season, Celtics traded Isaiah Thomas, who finished 5th in the NBA's Most Valuable Player Award for 2017, but as part of the deal did get four-time All-Star Kyrie Irving in return.

Meanwhile, last June, the Philadelphia 76ers were given the first overall pick in the 2017 draft. They selected 19 year old Markelle Fultz from college basketball team the Washington Huskies.

History of the NBA in the UK

In what is referred to as the "Global Games", regular-season NBA contests have taken place outside of the United States and Canada since November 1990.

And while it will be the first time that the Celtics or 76ers have ever played a competitive, regular-season game in England, both have previously come over as part of their pre-season tours.

In 2013, the 76ers were beaten 103-99 by the Oklahoma City Thunder at what was then the Phones 4 U Arena in Manchester.

The Celtics only other encounter this side of the Atlantic also came at the O2 Arena back in 2007. It came just days after they had just drafted in Kevin Garnett from their opponents the Minnesota Timberwolves.

They won 92-81 on the night and went on to overcome the LA Lakers in the playoff final 4 games to 2 in the following June.

Tickets to this event are likely to sell out fast and don't forget you can also join the debate over on Twitter using the hashtag #NBALondon