The NBA is staging its first games in China since a row in 2019 over protests in Hong Kong, ending a rift between the US basketball league and one of its most important markets, reports the [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/2e281a70-461b-4c77-a9be-a21b5ba44ebd ). The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns are set to play two games on Friday and Sunday in Macau, the semi-autonomous gambling hub on China’s southern coast.
No NBA games have occurred in China since 2019, when Hong Kong erupted into protests after a proposed bill to allow extradition, including to mainland China. Pre-season games were cancelled after then Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the protesters and NBA commissioner Adam Silver defended Morey’s actions.
The NBA’s return coincides with a deal signed with the cloud business of Alibaba, the US-listed ecommerce giant, to “enhance live game viewing and other fan engagement experiences”, Alibaba Cloud said on Thursday. Matches are broadcast in China by Tencent, with whom the league last year extended its deal to 2027.
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