Next month’s NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta is proving controversial with some of the league’s star players but the event will also mark the return of basketball to Chinese television, according to reports. The All-Star Game, which will take place on March 7 in the US, is set to be broadcast on the state-owned China Central Television as reported by Chinese basketball journalist Zhao Huanyu on Saturday. “If there are no surprises, CCTV will resume broadcasting NBA events during the All-Star Weekend in early March, as many fans have been waiting for a long time,” he wrote on Weibo. “CCTV will not only air the All-Star games, but will also resume the daily game broadcasts,” Zhao said. He confirmed to Chinese newspaper Global Times on Sunday that CCTV had agreed a deal with the NBA last year. A media source in China reveals China Central Television(CCTV), the state broadcaster, are likely to resume airing NBA from the 2021 NBA All-star. After Daryl Morey's tweet, though NBA could be watched on Tencent, CCTV suspended airing NBA except for the 2020 NBA Finals Game 5&6. pic.twitter.com/8tlIaMe4nT — Titan Sports Plus (@titan_plus) February 20, 2021 The CCTV sports channel stopped broadcasting NBA games in October, 2019, following then Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s infamous tweet supporting Hong Kong protesters. That signalled an end to more than 30 years of NBA games being shown on China’s national terrestrial television network. NBA returns to Chinese state TV a year after Hong Kong controversy Games – minus those of the Rockets, who only returned this season – swiftly resumed on online streaming giant Tencent but CCTV refused to buckle until the NBA Finals in October, almost a year to the day after Morey’s tweet. CCTV showed the final two games of the series between the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers but games have not been shown this season, which started in December. That is set to change next month, though it remains to be seen if all the NBA’s 30 teams will be welcomed back to screens. When the Rockets ruled China: Yao Ming’s NBA debut season Morey’s new employer the Philadelphia 76ers are currently blacklisted on Tencent. The All-Star Game has been described by NBA Finals MVP and record 17-time All-Star LeBron James as a “slap in the face” to players during the Covid-19 affected season. “I have zero energy and zero excitement about an All-Star Game this year,” this year’s captain of the Western conference team and fan vote leader said earlier this month.
