During preseason play in the Fall of 2019, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey showed support to the people of Hong Kong while criticizing China. This led to a massive fallout as the country declared it would be ending its relationship with the league, leading to massive revenue losses. Players like LeBron James refused to weigh in on the situation, leading to some outrage amongst fans in North America. For a year now, CCTV has continued to refuse to broadcast NBA games, until now.
According to ESPN, CCTV will be broadcasting Game 5 of the NBA Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat. In fact, they are doing so because they feel as though the NBA has been giving them plenty of goodwill since October. Needless to say, the relationship has been repaired.
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“During the recent Chinese National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations, the NBA sent their well wishes to fans in China,” CCTV said per Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “We also took note of the league has been continuously delivering goodwill [to China], particularly making positive contributions to Chinese people’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic.”
With NBA games coming back to Chinese TV, there is a solid chance the NBA could go back there for preseason games, in the future, once the pandemic is over.
Stay tuned for updates in regards to the NBA Finals, as Game 5 goes down tonight at 9 PM EST.