The Washington Wizards (then Bullets) led by coach Dick Motta visited China in 1979 and played two exhibition games against the Chinese national team and the Bayi Rockets.

In January 2008 the NBA formed NBA China, a new enterprise with five partners who collectively invested $253 million: Disney/ESPN, Bank of China Group Investment, Legend Holdings, China Merchant Group, and Li Ka Shing Foundation.

An estimated 300 million people play basketball in China.