- Philadelphia 76ers are in London ahead of their showdown with Boston Celtics
- Crystal Palace stars joined the 76ers in a session with kids from local area
- Joshua Harris owns significant shares at both Crystal Palace and the 76ers
Mamadou Sakho, Tim Fosu-Mensah, Patrick van Aanholt and Jairo Riedewald teamed up with the Philadelphia 76ers to coach local kids on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia 76ers are in town to face Eastern Conference leaders Boston Celtics on Thursday at The O2 Arena.
Crystal Palace have strong links with Philadelphia 76ers as the south London side’s main shareholder, Joshua Harris, is the principal owner of the NBA franchise.
Crystal Palace stars Mamadou Sakho, Tim Fosu-Mensah, Patrick van Aanholt and Jairo Riedewald pose with NBA stars Dario Savic, Robert Covington, JJ Reddick and Trevor Booker
Palace’s Tim Fosu-Mensah practises his basketball skills during the event at City Sports
Eagles defender Sakho acknowledges Philadelphia 76ers mascot Franklin the Dog
Sakho impresses his audience by performing keepy-uppies during the workout session
Players from the two clubs swapped shirts and jerseys after putting kids through drills during a training session.
The Crystal Palace quartet rubbed shoulders with NBA stars JJ Reddick, Robert Covington, Dario Savic and Trevor Booker during the event at CitySport in east London.
Eagles stars have been getting into the spirit by also taking part in basketball skill challenges.
Van Aanholt was the first player to take part in the challenge which tests the players on how many baskets they can score in 76 seconds (because of Philadelphia’s team name).
The left back managed to sink only four baskets despite being assisted by Bakary Sako and Luka Milivojevic.
Thierry Henry, who is also a big admirer of the NBA, also managed to meet Philadelphia 76ers stars with Reddick exchanging merchandise with the Arsenal legend.
Boston Celtics arrived in the English capital on Monday night, with the likes of Kyrie Irving and Al Horford checking into the Landmark Hotel in Marylebone.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry talks tactics with Redick ahead of Thursday night’s game