The entire New Orleans Pelicans team, including players and coaches, participated in an NBA Cares event on Tuesday in Beijing, China, on the penultimate day of their Global Games trip to Asia. This overseas preseason trip is the first for New Orleans since 2008, when the club played games in Berlin and Barcelona. During Tuesday’s community event at a Beijing school, Pelicans.com caught up with David Shoemaker, the CEO of NBA China, to discuss the broader background of the team’s visit to China and the league’s rampant popularity in the nation.
Pelicans.com: Over the past 10 to 20 years, how much of a difference have you seen in how popular the NBA has become in China?