NBA Returns to China After 6 Years
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On Oct. 10 and Oct. 12, the Phoenix Suns will play the Brooklyn Nets at the Venetian Arena in Macao, China. Alibaba Group is a major sponsor of the event and will put on a Fan Day event on Oct. 11.
“As you know, there’s tremendous interest in the NBA throughout China, so it’s wonderful to be back here,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told AFP.
The NBA started hosting pre-season games in China in 2004. However, the games stopped after a controversy arose surrounding the 2019 protests in Hong Kong.
During the protests, which were sparked by attempts to pass a law allowing the Chinese communist regime to extradite individuals from Hong Kong, Daryl Morey, then-general manager of the Houston Rockets, posted on Twitter—now X—an image of the phrase, “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong.”
Within hours of the post, the Chinese Basketball Association, state broadcaster Chinese Central TV, and tech company Tencent all announced that they would stop doing business with the Houston Rockets.
Morey deleted the image and posted a statement. He did not apologize. He said the post reflected his personal views, and that he had not meant to offend fans in China. Silver attempted to navigate the situation by expressing regret over the incident to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), without disciplining Morey. In the end, China banned the NBA from broadcast and streaming platforms for a year.
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Alibaba Group Chairman Joseph Tsai, a Canadian citizen who is originally from Taiwan, is also the owner of the Brooklyn Nets. At the time of the Hong Kong controversy, Tsai took the position of the CCP, calling the pro-democracy protesters “separatists.”
Interest in basketball took off in China with the success of Yao Ming, an eight-time NBA All-Star, who played with the Houston Rockets from 2002 to 2011.
This will be the 15th NBA China Games.
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