The NBA is set to make its return to China for the first time since 2019, featuring two pre-season games in Macau between the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns next October, according to a report from ESPN on December 6, 2024.
It has been several years since the NBA held games in China, following controversial events tied to a tweet from former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who expressed support for the protests in Hong Kong during two pre-season games in 2019.
As reported by ESPN, the relationship between the NBA and China has been improving thanks to the efforts of NBA China CEO Michael Ma, who started in 2020.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned at a recent sports management conference that he was optimistic about reinstating games in China eventually, stating, “We had a well-known incident there pre-pandemic with a tweet, and China’s government took us off the air for a period of time. We accepted that. We stood by our values.”
The NBA faced significant financial losses, amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, due to the suspension of broadcasts in China, which lasted until 2022.
Meanwhile, the league has expanded its global footprint, recently playing pre-season games in Abu Dhabi earlier this month, supported by Emirates Airlines for the NBA Cup, its in-season tournament.
The games in Macau are slated to take place at the Venetian Arena, part of the Las Vegas Sands group owned by the Adelson family, who also hold majority ownership of the Dallas Mavericks.
China boasts a vast basketball fanbase, with 17 teams participating in 28 pre-season games there from 2004 to 2019.