The match will take place, said AFP representative of the NBA about a meeting between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers program 19H30 local time (11:30 GMT).
The official account of the North American Basketball League on the Chinese social network Weibo also published Thursday at the end of the morning a message announcing the holding of the event.
The crisis between China and the NBA began last Friday after a tweet from Houston Rockets General Manager of the Houston franchise, Daryl Morey, who expressed support for the Hong Kong protesters.
Hong Kong, a former British colony made China back in 1997 and now an autonomous territory, has been shaken since June by increasingly violent demonstrations that demand more civil liberties and autonomy.
The government and many Chinese netizens expressed dissatisfaction after Mr Morey's tweet, perceived as an interference and a challenge to the territorial integrity of the country.
Since then, public TV CCTV and Chinese glove Tencent Internet have canceled the broadcast of two exhibition matches in China between the Nets and the Lakers – the one planned on Thursday night, and another announcement for Saturday Shenzhen (south ).
The Chinese Foreign Ministry's harsh criticism and comments by the NBA's boss, Adam Silver, defending the Rockets leader's freedom of expression and refusing to apologize, have poisoned the situation.
The NBA is very popular in China, and the Asian country represents for the North American basketball league a multi-billion dollar market.
The fate of the second exhibition match scheduled on Saturday Shenzhen is currently unknown.
(Afp)
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