The NBA’s relationship with China that turned cold over a general manager’s tweet in 2019 is defrosting with the announcement Friday that two preseason games will be played in Macao in October.
The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play on Oct. 10 and 12, 2025, at Macao’s Venetian Arena, marking the first games since 17 NBA teams played 28 preseason contests in China from 2004 to 2019.
Basketball is extremely popular in China, and the market was worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the NBA. However, a rift was created when then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support of anti-government protests 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, lucrative sponsorships were ended and league games were not shown on CCTV, the state-sponsored broadcaster in China, for one year after Morey’s tweet. Silver estimated in 2021 that the NBA lost $400 million that year because of the frayed relationship.
NBA games, however, started appearing regularly on CCTV in 2022 and became available on a streaming service.
NBA players, including stars Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings, have made appearances in China. Macao will host a celebrity basketball game on Saturday featuring former NBA standouts.
The Venetian Arena is owned by the Las Vegas Sands Corp., which operates a casino there. Macao is the only place in China with legal casino 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
