As the NBA resumes games in China, 4-time champion Andre Iguodala discusses the sport’s growing popularity in Asia and its potential to expand basketball’s influence across the region.

填海区

The NBA has resumed its presence in China after an almost six-year hiatus, with preseason games taking place in Macau featuring the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns. Andre Iguodala, a four-time NBA champion and executive director of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA), emphasized the significance of the league's return, noting the growing popularity of basketball in China and across Asia.

Iguodala discussed the NBA's focus on promoting the sport's core values such as discipline, sportsmanship, and community, while also recognizing the business opportunities in the region. He highlighted the NBPA's role in supporting players during and after their careers, including legal and health protections, and fostering strong partnerships to grow the game globally.

NBA returns to China: Andre Iguodala on basketball’s future in Asia

We saw that great interview of yours talking to the Great Wall of China, Chairman Yao Ming earlier today, and you've got another NBA legend with you right now. That's right, Martin. I do have a big four-time champion, Golden State Warriors' Andre Iguodala. He is sitting with me, and of course I was going to set up and talk about the NBA being back in China. They're here in Macau, going to be playing two preseason games, starts tonight. It's the Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns, and you know, there was an almost six-year hiatus, but they are back now, and this is a big deal, because in the time that they haven't been away, basketball, the love for the sport, has continued to grow. So let's get to that now and talk to Andre Iguodala. He is, as I mentioned, four-time champion from the Golden State Warriors, and he's also the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. Andre, very good morning, and it's great to have you here. Thank you very much for joining us today. Thank you for having me. Andre, this is your first time to Macau. Talk to me a little bit about how the NBA, now that it's coming back to China, to Macau, how big a deal is that? Well, it's a huge deal. I mean, you're just talking about, for me personally, I like to call myself an investor first, and one of the first things you look at is market. You know, your total addressable market, and particularly with basketball, how many people are playing the sport, and with the sheer size of China, the sheer size of Asia, particularly China, and how many people have an affinity to the game of basketball, how many people play daily, it's a place that you definitely want to, you know, influence in terms of, you know, the fundamentals of the sport and what it brings. And so what we're trying to teach is culture, discipline, accountability, sportsmanship, and so I think sometimes we over-commercialize things, but when we talk about the essence of what sports brings in terms of community, in terms of bringing us all together, you know, why not, this is a great place in terms of the values, in terms of the respect, and all the things that they bring to, you know, everything that they do culturally, and I think basketball is something that they love, and this is a place that's, you know, we talk about sports being an advertiser's dream, so there are some business benefits that you're always looking at as a business, as a company, and so, you know, everything just seems to fit in terms of this is a place that the NBA wants to be, our players want to be, and we want to be as close to our fans as possible. Is there any expectations tonight, what are you looking out for? Me personally, I'm looking at the new entrance into the NBA, you know, you talk about some of the young rookies, you know, and then we got some new faces on both teams, we had some big trades this summer with the Phoenix Suns, you know, the Brooklyn Nets are continuing to build momentum with their next phase of where they want to transition into their new era of basketball, and so they're still building, and so you got some young international players on the Nets teams that I'm really looking forward to seeing how they get accustomed to the NBA lifestyle, to the NBA pace. I was looking at the number of international players, over 100 in the NBA, it's Australia that has the most international players that play in the NBA, but I got to speak one international player, that being Yao Ming, just yesterday, and he mentioned your name in the interview, and he said he wanted to talk to you about his pension. Now, you're the executive director of the NBPA, what do you guys do there, and what do you have to say to Yao? Yeah, well, first of all, Yao knows that we take care of our guys, and so there's a transition when they're done playing, and we try to keep in touch with our guys, but Yao's on the other side of the globe, but we got Yao, the NBPA, we protect the rights of our players on the commercial side, and on the court, and what we try to do is we get them accustomed to the NBA life, we protect them from every aspect as a professional athlete, whether it's the agents, whether it's the teams with the league, collective bargaining is the crux of what we do, negotiating that every five to seven years with the NBA. We're also a partner with the NBA, and so there's years of contention where we're butting heads, and we're fighting, we're battling about the business, and where the value is placed, but right now, we're in a state of great partnerships, how do we continue to grow the game, who are the right partners, who are the right sponsors, how do we put the right spotlight on our players, how are we protecting them for overuse, and how are we protecting their bodies, technology, how do we keep them on the court, how do we keep them healthy, and so we just play that in-house legal consultant, we play that in-house family, everything that the player needs to have a successful career.

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