CNN
 — 

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is taking a first step back into the huge Chinese market with two preseason games set to take place in Macao next October, five years after the league was effectively blocked from China.

The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play the preseason games on October 10 and 12 at the Venetian Arena next year, while an NBA Flagship Store will also open in Macao.

“Bringing preseason games to Macao will showcase the excitement of the NBA to fans in one of the world’s emerging hubs for sports,” NBA deputy commissioner and COO Mark Tatum said in a press release.

“The Nets and the Suns feature an exciting mix of established and rising stars, and we look forward to engaging fans, aspiring players and the local community in Macao through these games and a variety of interactive events, youth development programs and social impact initiatives.”

NBA teams command a huge following in China, where basketball is wildly popular. The league has not staged a game in the country since 2019, when a tweet in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong from the Houston Rockets’ then general manager Daryl Morey sparked a political firestorm.

At the time, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver refused to punish or censor Morey – who is currently the Philadelphia 76ers’ president of basketball operations – prompting ire from Beijing and leading the sports station of China’s central broadcaster to stop showing the league’s games for a year.

Hong Kong was roiled by pro-democracy protests in 2019, which at times brought several hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets to push for democracy in the city. Like Macao, Hong Kong is considered a special administrative region of China, partly distinct from the mainland.

Beijing repeatedly accused Western democratic forces of working to fuel the popular Hong Kong protests and lashed out at any support for the movement, which died out in 2020 when the capital imposed a sweeping national security law on the city.

Silver said two years ago that the NBA had lost “hundreds of millions of dollars” in revenue following the fallout with China, with whom the league had shared a long-standing relationship. According to Reuters, 17 NBA teams played 28 games in China between 2004 and 2019.

However, tensions between the league and the country now appear to have thawed, with a legends game featuring six former NBA stars set be held in Macao on Saturday.

“We always love the opportunity to compete on the global stage and we are grateful to participate in the NBA China Games 2025,” said Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks.

“The Brooklyn Nets have an incredible fanbase around the globe and we can’t wait to bring our love of the game directly to our fans while giving our players and coaches the opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture.”

Phoenix Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein, meanwhile, added that playing in Macao is part of the team’s vision to “bring the Suns to a global audience and impact fans across the world.”