NBA builds on rapid growth in China with US$1.5 billion complex

The National Basketball Association is opening a glitzy "lifestyle destination" complex with an official basketball court, a hoop-themed restaurant and a children's zone.

You can train like Kobe Bryant, or even a Laker Girl, at a state-of-the-art fitness centre.

Perhaps you could spend the day at an interactive carnival, either shooting jump shots against a virtual LeBron James or participate in a two-on-two competition with friends or fellow visitors.

The NBA experience in the US$1.5 billion, 2,300-acre sports and entertainment superstructure is not in Beverly Hills or the shadow of Madison Square Garden in Manhattan.

It is on the outskirts of Beijing.

"China is our number one market outside of the United States," said Heidi Ueberroth, president of NBA International. "The growth has been very significant and very much on track, and we are very much still just scratching the surface."

Many people in the US believe basketball entered China's public consciousness when Yao Ming joined the NBA. Though he had a enormous impact, the game had a huge following well before the 2.29-metre centre became a member of the Houston Rockets in 2002. The Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers played two pre-season games in China last year and the knowledge of NBA history by the fans stunned league officials.

"Bill Russell came to our pre-season games in October," said NBA China CEO David Shoemaker. "And in both Beijing and Shanghai ... we're talking about a young generation of fans here ... we introduced Bill Russell to them without any real description of what he did.

"Standing ovation in both arenas. It was amazing."

Although Rockets guard Jeremy Lin, a Harvard-educated Chinese-American, currently carries the Sino banner in the NBA, 300 million play the game in the basketball-mad nation. Commissioner David Stern said the NBA water-cooler talk in China was similar to anyplace in the US.

The league has capitalised on its popularity by establishing the Chinese Basketball Association Dongguan Basketball School and NBA Training Centre for potential professionals.

"We have recruited elite juniors age 12 to 17 and they train in an NBA facility to become top-level basketball players," said Shoemaker. "It's a collaboration with the CBA. We use our most modern techniques from a coaching level, from a nutrition level and from a physical training level. It's one of many ways we can partner with the local federation on the ground in China to further generate the next generation of basketball there."

Yao was the catalyst for the NBA's soaring popularity in China but the now-retired eight-time All-Star plays down his influence in the game's popularity.

"Basketball had a big influence in China, even before the NBA got there," said Yao, who retired from the NBA's Rockets in 2011 due to a foot injury.

"There was a foundation. Fans in China knew the stars of the league long before I played. And you know, I wasn't the first Chinese player in the NBA. I was the third."

The league is helping to develop the fourth cutting-edge NBA-style arena in Xiamen, on the southeast coast.

Online media firm Sina streams one live game a day and the average number of viewers during the first six weeks of the current season is 1.16 million, up 172 per cent from the same period in the 2010-11 season.

Furthermore, the NBA has more than 20 marketing partners in China, and its apparel and footwear are sold in more than 2,200 Adidas stores in the nation of at least 1.3 billion people.

"Our fans base there is so knowledgeable and it just impresses every person that's part of the NBA family that goes over," Ueberroth said. "It's the history of basketball in China.

"It was brought by missionaries in the late 1800s, it's been part of the fabric and played throughout China. China had a team in the 1936 Olympics. It has a very strong history in their culture."