NEW YORK (AFP) — The Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets will play two pre-season National Basketball Association (NBA) games in Macau next year, the league announced on Monday.
The games will be contested 9 and 11 October at the Venetian Arena and follow the NBA’s return to China last October with two pre-season games between the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets.
“The games in Macau earlier this season showed how much passion and enthusiasm there is for the NBA among fans in China and across Asia,” said NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum.
“We look forward to welcoming the Mavericks and Rockets to Macau and to once again engaging fans, aspiring players and the local community through the games and surrounding events.”
The Venetian is owned by the Sands Corporation, whose president is Patrick Dumont, owner of the Mavericks, while the Rockets are the former club of Chinese star Yao Ming.
The Rockets, featuring Kevin Durant and Alperen Sengun, are off to a 21-11 start this season and rank third in the Western Conference while the Mavs, 13-23, are sparked by rookie Cooper Flagg and veterans Anthony Davis, Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson.
The NBA and Sands China Limited will also host youth clinics, a fan area and social impact programs on health, wellness and sustainability.
The latest games show continued healing followed a rift between the NBA and China in 2019 after Daryl Morey, then the Rockets’ general manager and now president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, tweeted support for anti-government protestors in Hong Kong.