Ties between the league and its Chinese partners have frayed, but the NBA brand has been marketable in the country for over a decade.
The Brooklyn Nets play against the Los Angeles Lakers during the NBA China Games 2019 in Shenzhen. Credit: Color China Photo via AP
Basketball is back, with the NBA set to resume play in Orlando on Thursday. But the league’s largest overseas fanbase, in China, will have a tough time tuning in.
Following Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s October 2019 tweet in support of protests in Hong Kong, Chinese sponsors and the country's state broadcaster, CCTV, pulled their support for the league. Players, owners, and even Morey himself went into damage control immediately after, hoping to preserve one of the biggest
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The former Biden official and China scholar makes the case for the previous administration's approach and discusses why Beijing is content to watch the U.S. now dismantle its sources of strength
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