When Portland takes on the Atlanta Hawks at 7 tonight in the first-ever NBA basketball game at the Sprint Center, it will be the Trail Blazers&#8217; third exhibition game in four days.</p><p>Portland had the luxury of playing its first two games at home in the Rose Garden. Tonight&#8217;s game is also a home game for the Trail Blazers, but it&#8217;s at a neutral site.</p><p>As far as Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge is concerned, it doesn&#8217;t matter where the Trail Blazers play exhibition games, be it home, road or in a city without an NBA team.</p><p>&#8220;We just go out and compete,&#8221; Aldridge said. &#8220;This will be my first experience playing in Kansas City.</p><p>&#8220;I think everybody on our team is pretty excited about this season. We have a bunch of good guys who play hard and want to win.&#8221;</p><p>For basketball fans starving for a return of the NBA to Kansas City, tonight&#8217;s game holds a little more significance. The Kings left Kansas City for Sacramento in 1985.</p><p>Even NBA exhibition games in Kansas City have been scarce. The last one was 2001 between the Houston Rockets and the Detroit Pistons, and only 7,113 showed up at Kemper Arena.</p><p>Tonight Kansas City gets to show just how strong a desire it has for the NBA.</p><p>Brenda Tinnen, senior vice president and general manager of the Sprint Center, said a crowd of around 11,000 is expected, which is about the same that attended the NHL exhibition between the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues game on Sept. 22.</p><p>By contrast, 19,321 fans showed up Tuesday in Portland to see Greg Oden&#8217;s debut against Sacramento, and 17,847 were on hand Wednesday night when the Trail Blazers played Golden State.</p><p>But forget the attendance numbers. The people at the Sprint Center are excited to play host to tonight&#8217;s exhibition game, and basketball fans should be thrilled to see Oden. He played in both of Portland&#8217;s exhibition games.</p><p>Connections are what brought this exhibition game to the Sprint Center, and it will definitely take big-time connections if the NBA ever returns to Kansas City full time.</p><p>&#8220;We have relationship with Portland through our CEO Tim Leiweke and his brother. Tod Leiweke is CEO of the group that owns the Trail Blazers,&#8221; Tinnen said. &#8220;So we had the introduction, and we talked about it. It was a preseason game that they wanted to take out of the market, and we were fortunate to land these two teams.&#8221;</p><p>If the Sprint Center can&#8217;t land an anchor tenant in either the NHL or NBA, can hockey and basketball fans at least expect a yearly exhibition game in both sports?</p><p>&#8220;Our ultimate goal is to have a NHL team or NBA team or both if anybody is out there granting wishes. But as long as we do not have an anchor tenant, we will continue to try to feature a preseason game each year,&#8221; Tinnen said.</p><p>As far as the NBA ever coming to Kansas City it might all depend on how the Oklahoma City Thunder does after the novelty wears off.</p><p>Oklahoma City supported the New Orleans Hornets for two seasons, but that turned into a franchise on the rise. The SuperSonics left Seattle for Oklahoma City as one of the worst teams in the NBA.</p><p>&#8220;I think right now the litmus test is Oklahoma City and how they do in the Midwest,&#8221; Portland general manager Kevin Pritchard said. &#8220;It&#8217;s not too far away.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d love for the NBA to come to Kansas City. The NBA is such wonderful thing. It has changed a lot. It&#8217;s not the same league when it was last in Kansas City. I&#8217;d like it to be successful in Kansas City and people embrace it.&#8221;</p><p><strong><span class="infobox-head"> NBA news </span></strong></p><p>&#8226;<strong>LAFRENTZ OUT:</strong> Don&#8217;t plan on seeing former KU star Raef LaFrentz play for Portland tonight. He had shoulder surgery in September. Also, Portland guard Rudy Fernandez, center Joel Przybilla and small forward Martell Webster did not make the trip to Kansas City.</p><p>&#8226;<strong>HEAT FALLS:</strong> Michael Beasley scored 21 points, but it was his missed free throw that rattled out in the closing seconds that doomed the Miami Heat to a 100-98 loss to the New Jersey Nets in overtime in a game played Thursday in Paris. Mario Chalmers scored eight points for Miami. The teams will play again in London before returning to the States.</p><p>Miami&#8217;s Dwyane Wade says Beasley&#8217;s miss will be a learning experience: &#8220;Sometimes it goes in, and sometimes it doesn&#8217;t. He understands that another day is another play. Don&#8217;t get your head down.&#8221;