NBA ‘set to Go Back to China for first Time because 2024’

The NBA will return to China for the very first time since 2019 with two preseason video games in between the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns set for Macao in October.

A relationship with China that turned cold over a basic manager’s tweet in 2019 appears to be defrosting with a statement expected Friday.

On Thursday, sources informed ESPN of the plans to head back to the Asian nation, which was then reported by Shams Charania and Brian Windhorst.

The Nets and the Suns will play on October 10 and 12, 2025, at Macao’s Venetian Arena, marking the very first games because 17 NBA groups played 28 preseason contests in China from 2004 to 2019.

Basketball is very popular in China, and the hundreds of millions of dollars to the NBA. However, a rift was created when then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted assistance of antigovernmental demonstrations in Hong Kong in October 2019.

The Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets are expected to play in two games in China next preseason

A pro-Hong Kong activist holds an image depicting LeBron James as Chinese communist innovative Chairman Mao Zedong before the Los Angeles Lakers season opening game versus the LA Clippers, outside Staples Center, on October 22, 2019

Daryl Morey tweeted assistance of antigovernmental protests in Hong Kong in October 2019

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In reaction, lucrative 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 the NBA lost $400 million that year due to the fact that of the torn relationship.

NBA players, including stars Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors and De’Aaron Fox of the Sacramento Kings, have appeared in China. Macao will host a celeb basketball game on Saturday including previous NBA standouts.

The league will go back to the Venetian Arena, formerly Cotai Arena, after 2 video games in 2007 when the Orlando Magic dealt with the Chinese men’s nationwide team and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

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