Wizards and Tissot host on-court experience for fans to shoot baskets, run drills on the court

On Saturday Feb. 2, the Washington Wizards teamed up with Tissot to hold a VIP fan experience for selected fans. The experience consisted of several events including a shoot around on the Capital One Arena court and tickets to watch the Wizards play against the Milwaukee Bucks later that evening.

Tissot is a Swiss watch manufacturer that is the Wizards’ official watch sponsor. It is also the official timekeeper of the NBA and FIBA. The fans who were invited to this event bought a Tissot watch from Fashion Time, a retailer at the Tyson’s Corner Center in McLean, Va.

The highlight of the event for everyone who attended was the shoot around and drills on the court itself. Going to an NBA game is not cheap and tickets on the court cost well over $1,000 each. Just being on the court is an exciting experience in and of itself.

I spoke with Zabby Rahimi, one of the fans who came to the experience. He was also the first fan to make a shot in this video below:

“As someone who always had hoop dreams but never played organized basketball, it was great participating in real drills on a NBA court.” Rahimi said when asked about the experience. “It was also a lot of fun competing for an autographed ball and jersey as well.”

There were several opportunities for fans to win prizes. One of the times was when everyone made half court shot attempts until someone made it. It didn’t take that long until one fan made it.

After the experience, fans had a chance to speak with former Bullets/Wizards players Michael Adams and Harvey Grant and watch the current Wizards team get on the court for warm ups about 90 minutes before the game began. From hindsight, it was one of the last times Otto Porter would be on the court in a Wizards uniform before his trade to the Bulls last week.

After the trade, I reached out to Zabby again to see what he thought about the move.

“I really didn’t expect the Otto trade!” he said. “It caught me completely off guard especially since they already traded Kelly Oubre Jr. However, I felt like the trade was necessary. Porter’s three-point percentage went down significantly and he lacks physicality. That’s detrimental to a team that already lacked defense.”

Of course, there was still a game to be played and fans went to a suite to watch the Wizards play against the Bucks. On his way to the suite before the game, Zabby met Mystics guard Natasha Cloud.

“Meeting Tasha was very special to me because she re-signed that weekend!” he said. Cloud was also recognized in the crowd that night representing the DMV:

Unfortunately, they lost 131-115. But it was still a good experience nevertheless. During the game, Adams, Georghe Muresan and mascot G-Wiz came to say “Hi” to fans and especially the kids that came out that day.

Overall, the experience was great as fans had a chance to get on the court and spend time in a suite having food and drink during the game. If there’s one part about timekeeping that the fans would have wished wasn’t accurate, it was that at some point, the event would have to come to an end.

As for me, I think I may need to get a new conventional watch!