NBA games return to China for first time since Hong Kong pro-democracy row

The United States National Basketball Association (NBA) will return to China this week for the first time since 2019.

Two preseason games are scheduled for Friday and Sunday between the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns at an arena at the Venetian Casino and Hotel in Macau.

China effectively froze the NBA six years ago when one of the organization’s leaders wrote in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, a former British colony that has seen a crackdown on civil liberties.

The games are part of a multi-year partnership between the NBA and Chinese tech giant Alibaba, announced late last year. The Brooklyn Nets are owned by company chairman Joseph Tsai.

This is the first time an NBA game has been played in Macau – a special administrative region like Hong Kong, known for its casinos – since 2007.

The NBA staged the games as part of efforts to attract a growing audience for American basketball to the country, with commissioner Adam Silver telling the AFP news agency there was “tremendous interest in the NBA across China.”

An analysis by US sports broadcaster ESPN in 2022 suggested that the value of NBA China, the arm that runs its operations in the country, was estimated at around $5bn (£3.7bn).

Basketball’s popularity in the East Asian country skyrocketed when Chinese player Yao Ming was signed by the Houston Rockets in 2002.

The NBA estimated in 2019 that 300 million people in China played the sport.

These matches could be interpreted as the culmination of a slow but steady reconciliation between the NBA and China, against a backdrop of trade tensions between Washington and Beijing.

China suspended broadcasts of the NBA on Chinese television channels and streaming platforms after Daryl Morey, then manager of the Houston Rockets, posted on social media: “Fight for freedom. Support Hong Kong.”

At the time, the city was gripped by regular protests over the erosion of free speech and assembly rights, which culminated in China passing a security law to suppress dissent. Beijing says this was necessary to maintain order.

Mr Morey backtracked after a backlash from Chinese fans, while the NBA called his comments “regrettable” and acknowledged he had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China”.

Since then, NBA matches have gradually returned to Chinese television channels.

Chinese fans have expressed their excitement for the upcoming games.

“We had prepared and planned for this two months in advance,” Lyu Yizhe, from Xiamen, told Reuters in Macau. “It’s very special because we’re long-time fans of the NBA – we’ve been watching since 1998, back in the days of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.”

Mole Zeng, who came from Hangzhou, told the news agency: “I believe that in the future, as the NBA continues to develop in China, more and more star players will come here to meet us in person.”