Carrington opened its doors to some huge names in the world of basketball recently, much to the delight of the Manchester United players.
The visit was organised as the NBA looks to host its matches in Europe, with a date in 2027 already set up at Co-op Live in the city. Ardent fans of the sport Leny Yoro and Joshua Zirkzee joined skipper Bruno Fernandes to present shirts to three popular figures.
LA Clippers ace Ivica Zubac, Chicago Bulls star Kevin Huerter and Tyson Chandler, who won a gold medal at the London 2012 Olympics with USA, enjoyed a tour of the newly furbished building and the gifts, in addition to a lengthy chat with their fellow sportsmen.
As our roving reporter on the day, it was fascinating to be able to eavesdrop on the conversations, with the mutual respect obvious as discussions around the demands on professional players and the mechanics of both games made for compelling listening.
By way of introduction, Chandler is a genuine giant, and has to be the tallest person I have ever spoken to. The 42-year-old Californian measures 7ft and his career CV includes the likes of Chicago Bulls, Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.
There was general incredulity when this imposing figure told Bruno he had been confused for the captain by a fan, on his way into the complex. “They were shouting Bruno,”
he claimed. When the obvious height difference was raised, Tyson made the valid point he was sitting down in the vehicle and proposed maybe it was the beard that carried some kind of similarity.
This still did not ring true with Fernandes, rightly so, and the Portugal international cracked the case by declaring the supporter must have been saying 'Mbeumo', as in our new signing Bryan, because their beards genuinely were alike!
With that puzzle solved, Chandler chatted to me about his move into coaching and we discussed the innovation at United, where former players would still play with the Under-21s in a dual role which was clearly something that would have appealed to him.
Huerter plays for Chicago Bulls, as a shooting guard, and is the smallest of the trio, despite topping 2m (6ft 7in). The New Yorker's nickname is 'Red Velvet' which he said was due to his touch and finesse on the ball, which got us thinking about how that might work for United players of past and present.
Zubac was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina but represents Croatia at international level and is currently with LA Clippers, after formerly playing for the Lakers. The 28-year-old revealed he is a big fan of European football, supporting the likes of Milan and Real Madrid. An admirer of Alessandro Nesta, he was heartbroken when the Rossoneri lost the UEFA Champions League final to Liverpool in 2005, and it was easy to empathise with him on that front!
Fabio Cannavaro, Ivan Rakitic and Luka Modric were other icons he respected for their talents and Ivica later had the chance to meet Benjamin Sesko in the canteen, during a tour of the complex. While Benjamin is one of the biggest men ever to play for the club, he was dwarfed by Ivica, who appeared to be nearly as tall as Chandler.
The basketballers naturally felt they would be most suited by being in goal or at centre-back, with Chandler admitting he was not very good with his feet. It led to the question over whether height can be an advantage in soccer, which it clearly is at set-pieces.
In contrast, Zirkzee suggested Bruno plays basketball by kicking into the hoop, which probably says a lot about his pinpoint accuracy. Josh also revealed Sesko can do “crazy things with his leaps and windmills”
and has clearly been wowed by the new arrival's agility and elasticity.
For his own part, the Netherlands forward made a decent attempt at spinning the basketball on his finger, and had a long, relaxed conversation with the NBA delegation away from the cameras.
As is the case with most informal chats, the weather was brought up. The United men warned their visitors the blazing sunshine was not an accurate representation of the usual conditions. The Manchester rain is well documented and it was apparent that the squad had enjoyed the warmer climes during their time in the US over the summer. Josh went into detail about the cities hosting the Premier League Summer Series, and was enthusiastic about Atlanta, Chicago and New Jersey.
There was also an interesting discussion around preparation, pre-season and the regularity of matches in the different sports.
The footballers acknowledged how hard it must be playing NBA matches in consecutive days and the training camps before the season sound pretty brutal. Huerter relayed the amount of tactical work that goes on over an extended period of time but there was also some empathy for the rigours of the football schedule.
Bruno suggested he had managed to have a longer break than in most of his previous seasons, despite representing Portugal when they won the UEFA Nations League, and the dual nature of club and country commitments was something that intrigued the Americans. There was surprise expressed that the international calendar comes into effect to break up the run of Premier League fixtures, especially so early into a campaign.
Overall, this was a subject where there was a lot of synergy and great interest on both sides to understand how it all works.
When it came down to the presentation, the three adidas jerseys for the 2025/26 season had been carefully placed into boxes and were handed over to unwrap by the guests.
Huerter received the away one and asked if it was a goalkeeper's top because it had long sleeves, so Josh and Leny explained how some outfielders preferred to wear these. Chandler was a fan of the striking black third shirt, recently released to much acclaim, and Fernandes enthusiastically regaled him with the history behind it, how Eric Cantona wore his collar up and the 1993/94 side was one of the most successful in our history.
The skipper expressed his pride at the redevelopment of Carrington, and how the facilities had been so well received by the squad, which set things up nicely for the delegation to make their way into the inner sanctum, where they would meet more of the players.
By now, NBA legend Brian Cardinal, formerly with Dallas Mavericks, was also in attendance to join the tour.
It was fascinating to see and hear the two groups interact, and you can bet there will be a lot of interest from the squad when the NBA does roll into town in 2027.
The opinions in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Manchester United Football Club.