[Notes] When you are in Macau, you won’t care too much that Zeng Fan won 0 points

Sports Weekly All-Media Reporter Kong Dexin

It has been six years since the last NBA China Game. The weirdness, chaos and overshadowing of that time are still before your eyes, especially when the Brooklyn Nets were participating teams twice, your memory is always easier to recall. But time can always smooth things out, and this time is no exception.

When Zeng Fanbo represented the Nets on the Chinese stage, I had been in Macau for more than 24 hours. These hours convinced me that it was not that important how many minutes Zeng Fanbo played, how many statistics were "0", and whether the Nets coaches and players really had trouble with Chinese fans. This is a gorgeous and grand carnival. The Venetian Macao’s floor ceiling imitates the blue sky, the huge basketball device in front of the Londoner Macao, and the eye-catching posters on the overpass. Everything stimulates and encourages you, pulling you to join a party that seems to never end.

In terms of the standards of an NBA game, the 2025 NBA China Game is too supermodel. It feels like the first time you see Bunyama play. I was fortunate enough to experience this year's NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco. Whether it was the atmosphere of the city or the setting of the game, it was difficult to compare with this game in China. I'm sure it's not because the media room for the China Games is located in a banquet room. The size of the room and the buffet next to it make you really think you're at a banquet.

As soon as you get off the plane from Macau, you can see rows of advertising screens for the NBA China Game. When boarding the shuttle bus to and from major casinos and resorts, the advertising space on the back of the seat was replaced with a China Game poster. Walking in the shopping malls of the Venetian, Londoner or Paris, you will encounter NBA stars or celebrities from time to time - I heard that more than one non-fan asked who Booker was because his private clothes are really handsome. When I was eating a Shake Shack burger in the Londoner, I saw James Jones slowly "wandering" past the side, and he was not even watched. Maybe because he works in the league office and wears a suit and tie, and is not as easy to identify as the players who hang out.

Of course, there are even more NBA-related activities or displays. Fans can have various experiences at the NBA House, and if they are lucky, they may meet players. From time to time, there are small NBA exhibitions in the corridors of the mall for visitors to check in and take photos. Some shops have also launched joint activities with the NBA. For example, you can buy egg tarts with the Nets LOGO printed on the packaging.

What impressed me the most was that every 50 meters or so in several major shopping malls, there would be an usher holding an NBA China Game promotional sign. They would enthusiastically answer all your questions, even if they had nothing to do with the NBA. If it were anywhere else, I would think this is because the game has too many NPCs, but in a shopping mall in Macau, this arrangement is just right, because you really may not be able to find your direction every 50 meters.

In addition, the most simple and crude way to reflect the specifications of this China competition is definitely "registering guest names". Jackie Chan, Jack Ma, Tony Leung, Carina Lau, Beckham, Yao Ming, O'Neal, Carter, Wade, Garnett, Tim Hardaway, Marbury, Jeremy Lin, Richmond, Marion, Liu Xianhua, Jiang Tao... This is a spectacle that does not require internet celebrity KOL to make up the numbers.

In short, as long as you visit Macau these days, it is impossible not to know that a grand basketball event is taking place here. I guess this is what the NBA wants to achieve, they want to shout at the loudest volume: "China, we are back!" Combined with the state they were in when they left and everything that has happened in the past few years, this voice seems to be necessary.

The NBA is a global business, and the number of basketball fans in China reached 500 million as early as the last NBA China game. After Yang Hansen was selected by the Trail Blazers, their president of business operations Hankins once lamented: "When we played in the Summer League in July this year, the social media ranking was No. 1. This is something I have never seen before. Obviously, a large part of it comes from the audience brought by Hansen." So do you think the NBA hopes to reach more Chinese fans and have more "Yang Hansen"?

The important thing is that Chinese basketball also needs to cooperate with the NBA. On the morning before the first game in China, Chinese Basketball Association Chairman Guo Zhenming and NBA Chairman Adam Silver sat together, shook hands and signed, and the two sides reached an agreement. To put it simply, Chinese men's and women's basketball players will have more opportunities to receive training under the NBA/WNBA system in the future and compete against NBA/WNBA teams. Chinese referees and coaches will also be able to learn from the advanced experience of the NBA. These will obviously help accelerate the development of Chinese basketball, and Xiao Hua's evaluation of the signing of this agreement is: "I think this is the most important announcement since the cooperation between the NBA and the Chinese Basketball Association."

After witnessing and witnessing all this, sitting in the media box set up in the "Sky" of the Venetian Arena, you will feel sorry for Zeng Fanbo's limited playing time and poor performance, but it will definitely not reach the level of indignation. We all hope that Chinese players will shine, and we hope that there will be one more Chinese face on the NBA stage, but this matter is not very conspicuous in the context of the return of the NBA China Game after 6 years. Because you can vaguely feel that a larger gear has begun to rotate slowly.