Ties between the league and its Chinese partners have frayed, but the NBA brand has been marketable in the country for over a decade.
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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Bob Fu's relationship with China has gone through phases. First, he thought money would solve his problems there; then he joined protesters at Tiananmen Square, thinking the politics could change. In the end, he determined, only God could save China, and he's been fighting for religious freedom in China ever since he resettled in Texas. With his nonprofit, ChinaAid, prospering like never before, he says the U.S. is finally catching on.