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NBA still missing from Chinese television screens, as 2021-22 season tips off
- Basketball fans in China unable to watch NBA regular season games on state-owned broadcaster CCTV for third year running
- Philadelphia 76ers also still absent from Tencent’s online streams, with lingering effects being felt from fallout of Daryl Morey tweet
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The new NBA season may have tipped off with a bang, as the champion Milwaukee Bucks beat the New Jersey Nets, and the Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Golden State Warriors.
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But neither of the season-opening games were shown on Chinese state television, where the NBA has largely remained absent from schedules since the end of the 2018-19 season.
CCTV has not listed any NBA games on its online schedule for the coming week, marking eight months since the station broadcast any action from the league, despite reports it would show last season’s All-Star Game in February.
In October 2019, CCTV pulled the plug on NBA coverage amid the fury surrounding a tweet posted by then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey in support of Hong Kong’s anti-government protesters.
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Both CCTV and Tencent, which streams NBA games to Chinese basketball fans online, immediately ripped up plans to show the 2019-20 season, though Tencent eventually relented – for all teams bar the Rockets.
While the Rockets returned to Tencent streaming in January, the Philadelphia 76ers remain blacklisted, with fans only able to see photos and reports on games instead of livestreams. Morey moved to the 76ers last year after leaving his role at the Rockets.
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