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MACAO — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated Friday the WNBA could possibly be subsequent to play video games in China.
Silver spoke completely with CNBC courtside from the primary of two NBA video games in Macao.
“Now we have to get via a brand new collective bargaining settlement with our gamers,” he stated. “However as soon as we do, there’s a lot curiosity in ladies’s basketball right here, I believe we would like to deliver a WNBA sport to Macao or to mainland China.”
The video games this weekend mark the NBA’s return to China after a six-year hiatus. The league is actively making an attempt to develop its footprint in its No. 2 market, the place roughly 425 million Chinese language observe NBA league, group and participant accounts on social media, in line with league knowledge.
Silver stated his focus now’s rising expertise within the nation. The league introduced a partnership Friday with the Chinese language Basketball Affiliation to assist assist the event of elite Chinese language gamers, coaches and referees.
Sixteen Chinese language gamers have performed within the NBA and WNBA, in line with the league.
“Let’s do extra to develop the sport right here, actually on the youth stage,” Silver stated. “If they’ve Chinese language gamers within the NBA, that takes curiosity to an entire one other stage.”
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