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Reports: China Set to Host Initially NBA Preseason Games Considering that 2024
The NBA’s relationship with China that turned cold over a basic supervisor’s tweet in 2019 apparently is defrosting with a statement anticipated Friday of two preseason video games in Macao in October, according to several reports Thursday.
The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play on Oct. 10 and 12, 2025, at Macao’s Venetian Arena, marking the very first video games considering that 17 NBA groups played 28 preseason contests in China from 2004 to 2019.
Basketball is very popular in China, and the marketplace was worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the NBA. However, a rift was created when then-Houston Rockets basic supervisor Daryl Morey tweeted support of in Hong Kong in October 2019.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver supported personal freedom of expression and did not punish Morey, the current GM of the Philadelphia 76ers.
In response, profitable sponsorships were ended and league video games were disappointed on CCTV, the state-sponsored broadcaster in China, for one year after Morey’s tweet. Silver approximated in 2021 that the NBA lost $400 million that year because of the frayed relationship.
NBA games, however, started appearing frequently on CCTV in 2022 and ended up being offered on a streaming service.
NBA players, consisting of stars Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings, have emerged in China. Macao will host a celeb basketball game on Saturday including former NBA standouts.
The Venetian Arena is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which runs a gambling establishment there. Macao is the only place in China with legal gambling establishment gambling. Dallas Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont is the president and CEO of the Las Vegas Sands.
Joe Tsai, the co-founder and chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, owns the Nets.
— Field Level Media
