The NBA enters into a strategic partnership with the fintech company Ant Group in China

The NBA and Chinese fintech company Ant Group have entered into a strategic partnership in China to work on various projects such as video content, broadcasting and membership, Ant Group announced on Tuesday.

Chinese fans will be able to access NBA video content on Alipay, a payment app owned by Ant Group, the company said in a statement.

The relationship between the NBA and Ant Group will also include joint marketing campaigns, digital collectibles and other areas, according to the statement.

Last week, NBA China launched a channel in Alipay that showcases user-generated content from NBA China’s network of influencers and Alipay’s authorized content creators.

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The NBA and Chinese fintech company Ant Group have entered into a strategic partnership in China to work on various projects such as video content, broadcasting and membership. (Reuters photos)

The NBA is a popular cultural export to China, and the basketball league’s presence in the Chinese market generates hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. But the NBA’s longtime partnership with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has been strained in recent years after former Houston Rockets CEO Daryl Morey expressed his support for anti-government protesters in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong in 2019.

Morey, now the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, shared a photo on Twitter in October 2019 that read: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” He later deleted the tweet, saying he did not mean to offend Rockets fans or the people of China.

China condemned Morey’s tweet and NBA games were pulled from CCTV shortly after.

The NBA initially said Morey’s tweet was “deplorable” and that he had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.” The league later released another statement saying it remains committed to free speech.

NBA free agent Enes Kanter Freedom, an outspoken critic of China over human rights abuses, has repeatedly called out Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and other athletes for doing business with China.

Chinese fans will be able to access NBA video content on Alipay, a payment app owned by Ant Group. (Reuters photos)

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In 2021, Chinese video streaming website Tencent pulled a Boston Celtics game after Freedom, who played for the team at the time, wore shoes criticizing China’s treatment of Tibet.

Still, despite criticism of China from some NBA personnel, the league’s games returned to Chinese television last March. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in June that the league lost “hundreds of millions” of dollars due to the 18-month blackout, but reaffirmed the NBA’s commitment to free speech.

“If the consequences are that we are taken off the air or we lose money, we accept that,” Silver said at the time.

The commissioner, in his comments in June, also addressed criticism of the NBA’s business relationship with China given its human rights abuses of the Uyghur population, pointing out that a number of other American companies also do business with the country.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in June that the league lost “hundreds of millions” of dollars because of the 18 months league games were off CCTV. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, file)

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“From a political standpoint, virtually every Fortune 100 company does business in China,” Silver said. “We have a huge, huge trade relationship with China. So to speak, all the phones in this room, the clothes you’re wearing, the shoes you’re wearing, are made in China. From a larger societal perspective, this is something that we need to see to the American government for guidance.”

NBA fans in China are now watching games at levels close to where they were before Morey’s comments in 2019, according to the league’s viewership figures.

Reuters contributed to this report.