Basketball fans must wait for NBA games

Basketball fans in China look like they will have to wait a while yet for the chance to see competitive NBA matches staged in the country, according to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

China is one of the world's biggest audiences for top class basketball, and recently it was announced that in October, the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets will play two preseason matches in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

These will be the 27th and 28th NBA games played in China since 2004, with 17 different teams having taken part, underlining the importance of the Chinese market. But speaking at the recent NBA London game between the Washington Wizards and New York Knicks, when asked about plans for more games in Asia, Silver said the logistical challenges made exhibition games a more realistic proposition than competitive matches.

"Because our season is so compact, we don't have as much time for activities in the community, especially when we're flying as far as India (which is also hosting two games in October) or China," he said.

"With the two preseason games we're playing in Mumbai next year … there's a lot more we can do on the ground when it's a preseason game than a regular-season game. The teams can do more of the kinds of activities … like clinics, community programs, sightseeing for the players, an opportunity to really get a sense of what the community is about.

"In China, it's essentially been the same. If we were to change the formula from preseason to regular season, it would fairly significantly shorten the trips, because there wouldn't be as much time on the ground."

The London game, won by the Wizards 101-100, was the ninth year in a row that NBA has played a competitive match in the British capital.

It was televised in 200 countries, and fans from 39 different countries bought tickets for the game.

Silver said that the ever-more international nature of the game's audience, and indeed the make-up of the teams – the Wizards and Knicks' rosters include players from DR Congo, France, Latvia, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Turkey – meant that international expansion remained a priority for the basketball authorities.

"You could create more space in the season so that we could bring more teams over maybe, open up the possibility of having a tournament in Europe, a tournament in Asia or in Latin America," he said.

"As we bring in more international players, as the following becomes more global, as technology changes, those are all things that we're going to continue to look at."