MACAO - The National Basketball Association (NBA) returned to the Chinese mainland on Thursday, staging two games in the Macao Special Administrative Region and announcing a multiyear partnership with mainland technology giant Alibaba.

The NBA is due to play two pre-season games in the special administrative region on Friday and Sunday, part of a five-year contract with Las Vegas Sands' Macao unit Sands China.

The Macao games aim to bolster the NBA's profile in the mainland, where around 300 million people play basketball.

"The China fans, I feel like are some of our biggest supporters," Brooklyn Nets player Michael Porter Jr told a media conference at the Venetian.

"There's so many fans out here. So I think coming out here and being able to play in front of them is definitely a blessing for us and for them."

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NBA experience

The NBA games are being held at Sands Venetian property along with a five-day free-to-enter music, fashion and technology exhibition showcasing the NBA brand. Shaquille O'Neal is among NBA celebrities attending the event, the league said.

The Brooklyn Nets, owned by Alibaba chairman Joseph Tsai, will play the Phoenix Suns at sold-out games in the arena.

Sands owner, the US billionaire Adelson family, also own the Texas-based NBA team, the Dallas Mavericks.

The casino operator announced its collaboration with the NBA in December 2024 and said it wanted to bring elite basketball directly to mainland fans.

The announcement by Alibaba Group said it would provide artificial intelligence and cloud computing services with the NBA and enhance fan experiences on the NBA app in the mainland.

Alibaba Cloud will be the official cloud computing and AI partner of NBA China, it said.