MACAU — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Friday the WNBA could next play a game in China.
Silver spoke exclusively courtside to CNBC from the first of two NBA games in Macau.
“We have to conclude a new collective agreement with the players,” he said. “But once that happens, we would like to host WNBA games in Macau or mainland China because there is so much interest in women’s basketball here.”
This weekend’s game marks the NBA’s return to China after a six-year hiatus. The league is actively working to expand its reach in its second-largest market, where about 425 million Chinese people follow the NBA league, teams and player accounts on social media, according to league data.
Silver said his current focus is on developing talent domestically. The league announced Friday a partnership with the Chinese Basketball Association to help develop China’s elite players, coaches and referees.
According to the league, 16 Chinese players played in the NBA and WNBA.
“Let’s try harder here to really develop the game at the youth level,” Silver said. “If there were Chinese players in the NBA, the interest would go to a whole other level.”
