The NBA will return to China for the first time since 2019 with two preseason games between the Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns set for Macao in October.
A relationship with China that turned cold over a general manager’s tweet in 2019 appears to be defrosting with an announcement expected Friday.
On Thursday, sources told 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 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 antigovernmental 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.
The Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets are expected to play in two games in China next preseason
A pro-Hong Kong activist holds a photo depicting LeBron James as Chinese communist revolutionary Chairman Mao Zedong before the Los Angeles Lakers season opening game against the LA Clippers, outside Staples Center, on October 22, 2019
Daryl Morey tweeted support of antigovernmental protests in Hong Kong in October 2019
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 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 appeared 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.
The league will return to the Venetian Arena, previously Cotai Arena, after two games in 2007 when the Orlando Magic faced the Chinese men’s national team and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
