{"id":198646,"date":"2025-10-08T23:00:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T23:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/198646\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T23:00:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T23:00:08","slug":"nba-returns-to-china-for-first-time-since-2019-rift-with-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/198646\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA returns to China for first time since 2019 rift with government"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Devin Booker (centre) of the Phoenix Suns drives around Rasheer Fleming (left) of the Los Angeles Lakers during the second half of a game at Acrisure Arena last week in Palm Springs, Calif.Katharine Lotze\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The last time the NBA went to China, there was silence. They were two of the most awkward games probably ever played, a pair of preseason matchups between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers with some fans barely reacting to anything and no press conferences held afterward.<\/p>\n

This time, it\u2019s going to be very different. Back to normal, it would seem.<\/p>\n

The Nets and Phoenix Suns have made their way to the Chinese gambling hub of Macao for two preseason games \u2014 one Friday, the other on Sunday, and marking the NBA\u2019s first games played in China since 2019. There are two more games planned for next season in China as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important for us to be able to bring the live game experience, including live games, to as many fans of the NBA around the world,\u201d NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s no doubt that China has one of the largest fanbases in the world \u2014 hundreds of millions of fans in China, 300 million people play the game of basketball in China, and our mission is to inspire and connect people everywhere through the game of basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a time where it seemed uncertain if that connecting would still be possible.<\/p>\n

A geopolitical rift was sparked by a tweet posted by Daryl Morey \u2014 then the general manager of the Houston Rockets, now of the Philadelphia 76ers \u2014 that was in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong. China severed most ties with the NBA for some time, taking games off its broadcast channels, and the process of mending at least some fences took years.<\/p>\n

Even now, the games come at a turbulent time. There is trade friction between the U.S. and China, with both sides threatening sky-high tariffs on the others\u2019 exports. And the NBA has long heard criticisms from lawmakers \u2014 on both sides of the aisle \u2014 about not taking a stronger public stance about China\u2019s human rights record.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch of the sports industry is based on relationships and we think sports plays a unique role in building community \u2014 not just in the United States but around the world and particularly at times of heightened division,\u201d NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. \u201cWhether that division is domestically or globally there\u2019s almost nothing else I can think of that brings together communities like sports does, and particularly a sport like basketball that is globally played, globally understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Nets and Suns will play at Macao\u2019s Venetian Arena, which is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corp. \u2014 which is a casino operator there as well. Sands president and chief operating officer Patrick Dumont is governor of the Dallas Mavericks, assuming that role after his family acquired the team.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Cam Thomas (right) and the Brooklyn Nets will end a six-year NBA drought in China, when they face the Phoenix Suns for a pair of preseason games in Macao.Evan Bernstein\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Nets are owned by Joe Tsai, the chairman of Chinese tech giant Alibaba. And this NBA season comes with high hopes for a Chinese rookie: Yang Hansen, a 7-foot-1 draft pick who is expected to play a role for the Portland Trail Blazers this season.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s thrilled that the NBA is headed back there, finally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to say firstly, playing for the Blazers is a wonderful thing for me, and I wish that I can take all the players and management and coaches to China for sure in the future,\u201d Yang said with the support of an interpreter. \u201cFor sure, I wish (for) more games in China. … That works for me perfectly. I just wish that in the future, we can have it \u2014 I can also play in front of all my homies, which is also the proudest thing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blazers are already seeing how impactful the Chinese market can be.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that I noticed this summer, and I\u2019ve been with the team almost 13 years, we were No. 1 in the league in social media rankings in July during Summer League, which I\u2019ve never seen before,\u201d Trail Blazers President Dewayne Hankins said. \u201cAnd a lot of that was due to the incredible audience that Yang Hansen brings to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

This has been no secret for some time. Chinese fans love the NBA, plain and simple, and want more.<\/p>\n

San Antonio Spurs\u2019 star Victor Wembanyama spent time in China this summer; if he was spotted on a morning jog, fans would sprint that way just to try to get a look at him. The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 LeBron James toured China this summer for the 15th time with Nike, the NBA\u2019s all-time leading scorer saying, \u201cThere\u2019s an unbelievable love and appreciation for basketball in Asia that\u2019s always incredible to experience.\u201d Jimmy Butler toured China again as well, as did his Golden State Warriors teammate Stephen Curry \u2014 who has long drawn massive crowds for his visits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe skill level and the excitement around the game is really special and I was happy to kind of experience that in Chongqing this year and have something that I\u2019ve done here in the states for a very long time with the Curry Camp and bring it over there,\u201d Curry said. \u201cBasketball is at an all-time high, not only from an awareness and fandom perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Devin Booker (centre) of the Phoenix Suns drives around Rasheer Fleming (left) of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":198647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,459,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-198646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-nba","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}