Silver wants to turn NBA into gold in China

Q&A with Adam Silver

Why did the NBA choose Shenzhen as a host city for this year's preseason trip?

We selected Shenzhen partially because some of the most passionate fans are in this region and we also think it's important to bring one of our games to our partner Tencent's headquarter city. Meanwhile, we very much closely align our business with the technology sector, and much of the great emerging innovations in technology happen in this region.

When could the NBA bring a regular season game to China?

I am not sure, and the reason is that it's a balance for us between coming preseason when our teams have more time to spend in the market and the regular season when our schedules are so condensed that there is much less time for our teams to experience China. Having said that, I recognize there is a difference between preseason and regular games. As the market becomes more mature in terms of the interests in NBA basketball, playing a regular season game is something we will continue to look at.

After Yao Ming, do you think Zhou Qi could join the NBA any time soon?

I don't think it would be fair to put so much pressure on Zhou Qi as the commissioner of the NBA. But certainly, we follow young players in China, as we do in all markets, very closely. Zhou played a very important role in helping China win the Asian Championship and qualify for the (2016) Olympics. I think only time will tell whether he will be a true NBA prospect, we are encouraged by what we have seen so far and look forward to watching him continue to develop as a player.