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Basketball is not the most popular sport in Cuba.
Baseball gets top honors there.
But some of the NBA`s biggest stars recently traveled to the Caribbean nation,shooting for a little basketball diplomacy.
The U.S.and Cuban governments are moving toward better relations following decades of cold war rivalry.
Political divisions remain.
In January,Cuba warned the U.S. not to interfere with its communist government.
But as far as sports go,the NBA is helping build a bridge between the U.S. and its southeastern neighbor.
Hoop dreams come to Havana,along with some of basketball`s living legends.
As U.S.-Cuba relations slowly thaw,for the first time,the NBA hosts a basketball training camp in Cuba.
Towering legends of the game came out of retirement to practice a little basketball diplomacy.
Following the Cuban Revolution,sports became part of the ideological struggle with capitalism,as Fidel Castro declared Cubans would play for the love of the game,not the sky high salaries that he said corrupted American athletes.
Politics couldn`t stop Cubans,though,from addressing U.S.sports stars.
The visiting players were given awards by the Cuban government and serenaded by a tune not often heard in communist-run Cuba,the U.S. national anthem.
Cuba,they say,has the potential to be a basketball powerhouse.
Cuba has a great history of producing phenomenal athletes.
You know,it`s-it`s a-the-what they-what I think what Cuba needs is exposure.
The U.S.economic embargo and Cuban government restrictions make it difficult for a Cuban player to compete in the NBA.
Many of Cuba`s top athletes still defect in order to play in the US.
But becoming the best,the visiting players say,is all about overcoming the odds.
I think it helps the young women and the young men to know that anything is possible.
And if it happened to me,it can happen to them.
