Commissioner Adam Silver believes the NBA could stage games in China again, five years after a conflict over the Hong Kong democracy protests prompted a backlash against the league by Chinese broadcasters.
"I think we will bring games back to China at some point," Silver said Thursday at the Columbia University Sports Management Conference in New York. "China's government took us off the air for a period of time. We accepted that. We stood by our values. ... Anybody in our league has the right to speak out on political matters."
In 2019, then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted a message on social media in support of anti-government protests in Hong Kong. That set off a firestorm of controversy for the NBA in the lucrative Chinese market and a disagreement over Silver saying in 2019 that Chinese officials wanted Morey fired.
China refused to broadcast two preseason games that were held in the country between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets as corporate sponsors fled. Silver said the NBA suffered "dramatic" financial consequences from the reaction, with the league previously estimating it lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the controversy.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV ended an 18-month blackout of the league in March 2022, and there were signs of thawing relations as six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler toured the country over the summer in 2023.
The NBA is working to expand its global footprint, hosting several preseason games in Abu Dhabi and several regular-season games in Mexico City and Paris in the past few years.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.