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Money... they want the Chinese to consume NBA content, merchandise and possibly extend the league.

> and possibly extend the league

So much for NBA.

(I mean, I guess it ain't unprecedented, given that there are Canadian teams in the NBA, but at least Canada and the US are close geographically and culturally, while China is neither, last I checked)

As an aside, I recently learned that the N in NHL would have originally been Canada.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hockey_League

In retrospect it makes a lot of sense; but I guess in my subconsciously Americentrist way the thought never occurred to me.

They're probably planning to set up a Chinese NBA league that isn't directly part of the main NBA league. The NFL did that in Europe for while for example. A bunch of teams in Europe competed against each other in their own league for their own cup (The World Bowl), all separate from the 'real' NFL, but all under the NFL banner and with NFL backing.

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