The NBA returns to China half a decade after one tweet sparked a firestorm from the league’s second-most lucrative country.
According to ESPN, the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns will play two preseason games in Macau next October.
The Nets are owned by Chinese billionaire Joe Tsai and the game will reportedly be played at the Venetian Arena, which is controlled by the Adelson family, which also owns a majority of the Dallas Mavericks. Adelsons’ company will also reportedly collaborate with the NBA on new youth development programs and social impact initiatives in Macau.
ESPN portrays the Games as the culmination of a years-long process of repairing the league’s relationship with China. NBA China CEO Michael Ma has reportedly been helpful since his appointment in 2020.
The NBA’s China controversy engulfed the league in 2019
The trouble for the NBA started on October 4, 2019, when then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted an image that read “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong’. amid a series of protests in the special administrative regions against the Chinese government.
The NBA responded by immediately distancing itself from the tweet, as did Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta. Morey, now the president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, later deleted the tweet and clarified that the statement only reflected his personal views, but that one bit of criticism still drew the full wrath of the Chinese government.
NBA games were removed from the country’s television broadcasts and the Rockets became taboo overnight, despite being the team of national hero Yao Ming. The league played 28 preseason matches in China from 2004 to 2019, but not one since The Tweet.
The NBA’s response also became a domestic political issue, with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle sharply criticizing the league for allowing China to suppress the freedom of expression of an American citizen. There was no shortage of protests at matches in the following weeks.
