00:00The Brooklyn Nets and Phoenix Suns played an NBA game in China for the first time in six years on
00:05Friday. It was a preseason game and not on mainland China, but none of that mattered.
00:11The NBA is patching up the relationship with its most important international market.
00:18A market featuring an estimated 425 million basketball fans is a goldmine for the NBA and
00:26its partners. The league was frozen out of China after a 2019 war of words and tweets over democratic
00:33protests in Hong Kong. The league was largely absent from Chinese airwaves for the next three years and
00:39almost every Chinese sponsor cut ties with the NBA. The fans, however, remained and Phoenix Suns star
00:46Devin Booker knows the significance of this weekend's trip. I think basketball without borders
00:51is super important being here on their homeland and letting them see us play in person. I think
00:58for the youth and the next generation of Chinese players getting this experience on their land
01:06will just open up their inspiration. To that end, the NBA and the Chinese Basketball Association
01:15announced a partnership on Friday focused on youth basketball and growing the game by developing
01:20elite Chinese players, coaches and referees. 16 Chinese players have played in the NBA and WNBA,
01:28according to the league. Having the next Yao Ming playing alongside Booker, Shai Gilgis Alexander
01:34or Cooper Flagg will grow the game exponentially. Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to CNBC courtside.
01:41They know they need to continue to generate more high quality players, men and women, and it goes to
01:50the quality of their youth program, the quality of their training. So we entered into a partnership
01:55with them. The partnership also includes providing opportunities for Chinese teams to take part in
02:01the NBA Summer League and in WNBA preseason games in the United States. The reverse could be true as
02:08well. Silver said a women's showcase in China could be next after a collective bargaining agreement
02:14with the WNBA players is reached. And now everywhere I go, just sort of in the United States,
02:19people want to talk about the WNBA now and it's great. They want to talk about women's basketball
02:24here and I think we'd love to bring a WNBA game to Macau or to mainland China. Chinese tech giant
02:31Alibaba announced another multi-year deal with the NBA on Friday. They'll provide AI and cloud services
02:37for the league's operations in China. Alibaba is owned by Joe Tsai, who also owns the Brooklyn Nets.
02:44For Straight Arrow News, I'm Chris Francis.
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