NBA's sheer dominance could limit damage from China backlash

The NBA's lucrative interests in China are under threat, but the league enjoys an important piece of leverage that could carry it through the crisis: it's the only game in town.

But the league remains massively popular in China, due partly to Chinese former NBA great Yao Ming who, ironically, played for the Rockets from 2002-2011 and now heads the Chinese Basketball Association ."When it comes to basketball in China, it's just the NBA," said Mark Dreyer, who runs the China Sports Insider website.

But there has been no hint yet that the NBA's upcoming regular-season games would be blacklisted, nor has a broader Weibo boycott of the league's coming season gained pace.As for the potential financial impact, "in the grand scheme of the billions of revenues the NBA makes in China, it may not be so bad," the executive added.

"I think we shouldn't let sports be spoiled by complicated issues like this. They should be separated."Police in Jilin province announced on Monday that an overzealous Rockets supporter was arrested after he posted a photo of himself burning China's flag.

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