Adam Silver – Foto Tomas Stevens/ABACAPRESS.COM/IPA
Commissioner Adam Silver believes the NBA could hold games in China again, five years after a controversy over Hong Kong‘s pro-democracy protests provoked a backlash against the top North American league. “I think sooner or later we will bring matches back to China”Silver said Thursday at the Columbia University Sports Management Conference in New York. “The Chinese government suspended us for a period of time. We accepted it, we maintained our values… Everyone in our league has the right to speak out on political issues.”
At the time, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted a message on social media in support of the anti-government protests in Hong Kong, sparking a firestorm of controversy for the NBA in the lucrative Chinese market. China refused to broadcast two preseason games, setting off a series of actions that led Silver to say the NBA suffered “dramatic” financial consequences. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV ended an 18-month NBA blackout in March 2022, and there were signs of a thaw in relations when six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler embarked on a tour of the country over the summer of 2023.
