The NBA returns to the lucrative Chinese market this week with two preseason games following a six-year absence after a team official tweeted his support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play sold-out games on Friday and Sunday in Macao, a special administrative region of China.

China, the world's second-biggest economy, effectively cut ties with the league in 2019 after NBA executives stood behind then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.