NBA games are returning to China for the first time since the pro-democracy row in Hong Kong

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

Two pre-season games are scheduled for Friday and Sunday between the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns at the Venetian Hotel and Casino in Macau.

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

The games come after the NBA and Chinese tech giant Alibaba announced a multi-year partnership at the end of last year. The Brooklyn Nets are owned by company president 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 has placed these matches as part of its efforts to capitalize on the growing viewership of American basketball in the country, with commissioner Adam Silver telling Agence France-Presse that there is “tremendous interest in the NBA throughout China.”

Analysis by US sports channel ESPN in 2022 indicated that the value of NBA China, the arm that runs its operations in the country, was estimated at $5 billion (£3.7 billion).

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

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

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

China suspended broadcasts of the NBA on Chinese TV channels and streaming platforms after the NBA refused to apologize or discipline then-Houston Rockets manager Daryl Morey, who posted on social media: “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

At the time, the city was mired in regular protests over the erosion of rights to freedom of expression and assembly, which culminated in China passing a security law to suppress dissent. Beijing insists this was necessary to maintain order.

Morey backed down after backlash from Chinese fans, while the NBA said it was “unfortunate” that fans in China were upset and admitted he had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.”

Since then, NBA games have gradually returned to Chinese TV channels.

Chinese fans expressed their excitement for the upcoming matches.

“We were preparing and planning for this two months ago,” Liu Yizhi of Xiamen told Reuters in Macau. “It feels very special because we’re long-time NBA fans — we’ve been watching since 1998, in the Michael Jordan and Chicago Bulls era.”

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