MACAO — It’s been a six-year-long wait for Yun Hui, who arrived in the Chinese gambling hub to watch the Phoenix Suns take on the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, as the NBA returned to China after a political firestorm that saw it effectively banned from one of its most lucrative markets.
“Every time we turn on the TV and we don’t see NBA games, it’s kind of sad,” Beijing-based Yun told NBC News, wearing the jersey of his favorite player, Brooklyn Nets’ Zeng Fanbo.
“It means a lot to me,” the 28-year-old risk manager said.
The NBA has long been one of the most popular U.S. cultural exports to China, where basketball is tremendously popular, with the league saying an estimated 300 million people play the sport there.
In 2019, the league’s deep ties to China imploded over a tweet by Daryl Morey, the then-general manager of the Houston Rockets. Morey posted a message in support of anti-government protesters in Hong Kong at a time when the often-violent demonstrations brought the city to a standstill.
Beijing responded furiously by canceling game broadcasts on the state media CCTV, stores pulled Rockets merchandise and sponsorships were cut as the NBA was all but frozen out of its most lucrative international market outside the United States.
Over the last three years, the NBA has gradually returned to the airwaves in China.
That return culminated when Macao, a former Portuguese colony that is one-third the size of Manhattan and best known for its sprawling casinos that earn more gaming revenue than Las Vegas, became all about basketball Friday.
Fans reveled as the Nets and the Suns marked the league’s return by playing a preseason game in the Venetian Arena, which is owned by Las Vegas Sands Corp., which is also a casino operator there.
The game was attended by notable names such as former NBA great Yao Ming, as well as former England soccer captain David Beckham, action star Jackie Chan and billionaire Jack Ma.
The league also set up the NBA House at the Venetian, a 150,000-square-foot fan zone, which was also open to those who were not ticket holders.
It was packed with dozens of booths, including by sponsors, hoop practice, digital art, merch stores and a Nets-themed photo booth.
Fans swarmed two former NBA stars, Stephon Marbury, who spent nearly a decade playing in China, and Shawn Marion, for autographs and selfies when they showed up at the fan zone. Long queues also stretched just for a photo with a lifelike figure of Stephen Curry.
The league said Shaquille O’Neal and rapper MC Jin will also be attending the event.