Lebron in town

MANILA, Philippines - Lebron James of the Miami Heat arrived in the country just as President Aquino was wrapping up his State of the Nation Address late yesterday afternoon. 

James stole some of the spotlight from the President as the social media networking site Twitter became flooded with tweets about his arrival.

ABS-CBN correspondent and local NBA coverage analyst TJ Manotoc was the first to break the news of James’ arrival on Twitter, followed by a series of photos of James posted by GMA News reporter Mark Zambrano on his Instagram account.

Lhen Hasal, media relations manager of Ogilvy PR which handles Nike Philippines, confirmed the news to Philstar.com in a text message.

James and his entourage arrived at around 5:45 p.m. in a private jet.

They went straight to Shangri-La Makati where they are billeted. James is scheduled to meet the press today.

James, who led the Heat to their second straight championship last month, will conduct a skills training with select local basketball players at the Mall of Asia Arena this afternoon. The event is dubbed “Witness History.”

Meanwhile, online scalpers are still making a killing on the free tickets handed out by Nike Philippines last week.

The demand is increasing as local celebrities are clamoring tickets, now going for as much as P10,000.

One of them is Isabelle Daza, who posted on her Twitter account that she’s looking for tickets to James’ first ever event in the country for her niece.

James is the first of the wave of NBA superstars who will visit to the country this year.

After the four-time NBA MVP, James Harden of the Houston Rockets and Eric Gordon of the New Orleans Pelicans will be arriving to attend the NBA 3X event this weekend at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall.

Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers, meanwhile, will return to the country for the sixth time, this time to help Lenovo launch its latest batch of smart phones on Aug. 12.

Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose will also be coming for his D-Rose Tour arranged by Adidas on Sept. 14-16, while Harden will bring along his new teammate Dwight Howard and Asian-American sensation Jeremy Lin on Oct. 10 for the first ever NBA pre-season game in the country at the Mall of Asia Arena, when the Rockets go up against Paul George and the Indiana Pacers. – philstar.com