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Reports: China Set to Host Initially NBA Preseason Games since 2024

The NBA’s relationship with China that turned cold over a general supervisor’s tweet in 2019 obviously is defrosting with an announcement expected Friday of two preseason games in Macao in October, according to multiple reports Thursday.

The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play on Oct. 10 and 12, 2025, at Macao’s Venetian Arena, marking the first games considering that 17 NBA teams played 28 preseason contests in China from 2004 to 2019.

Basketball is extremely popular in China, and the marketplace deserved numerous millions of dollars to the NBA. However, a rift was created when then-Houston Rockets basic supervisor Daryl Morey tweeted assistance of anti-government protests in Hong Kong in October 2019.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver supported individual liberty of expression and did not punish Morey, the current GM of the Philadelphia 76ers.

In action, rewarding sponsorships were ended and league games were disappointed 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 due to the fact that of the frayed relationship.

NBA games, however, started appearing regularly on CCTV in 2022 and ended up being offered on a .

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 featuring previous NBA standouts.

Joe Tsai, the co-founder and chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, owns the Nets.

— Field Level Media