Chinese state broadcaster says it allowed NBA to return to airwaves a year after Hong Kong row after receiving ‘good will messages’ and Covid-19 support

The clash between Miami Heat and the LA Lakers was the first game shown by CCTV for over a year after a team boss expressed support for the Hong Kong protests

China is the most lucrative market for the sport outside the US and observers said the decision showed Beijing’s willingness to maintain social exchanges between the two sides

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Employees at a Beijing NBA store watch the game between the LA Lakers and Miami Heat. Photo: AP

Published: 9:30pm, 10 Oct 2020Updated: 10:47pm, 10 Oct 2020

China’s state broadcaster has started broadcasting National Basketball Association games again, almost a year after they were pulled from the air in a row over Hong Kong.

Miami Heat’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers – a win that keeps the series alive – was screened live on China Central Television on Saturday morning local time, with the broadcaster saying it had noted the “good will” messages it had received from the NBA since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Observers said commercial considerations played a role in resuming the broadcasts, but it also showed Beijing was trying to maintain normal civil exchanges between the two countries despite the ongoing tensions between them.

CCTV pulled the plug on NBA games just over a year ago after Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, expressed sympathy with anti-government protests in Hong Kong by tweeting a picture with the words “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

Mainland Chinese fans reacted with anger to the tweet and NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s defence of Morey’s right to free speech.

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