Commissioner Adam Silver believes the NBA could host games in China again, five years after a conflict over democracy protests in Hong Kong led to a backlash against the league from Chinese broadcasters.

“I think we will bring games back to China at some point,” Silver said Thursday at the Columbia University Sports Management Conference in New York. “The Chinese government took us off the air for a period of time. We accepted that. We stood by our values. … Everyone in our league has the right to speak out on political issues.”

In 2019, then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted a message on social media in support of the anti-government protests in Hong Kong. That set off a firestorm of controversy for the NBA in the lucrative Chinese market and sparked a disagreement over Silver saying in 2019 that Chinese officials wanted Morey fired.

China refused to broadcast two preseason games played in the country between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets because corporate sponsors fled. Silver said the NBA suffered “dramatic” financial consequences from the backlash, as the league previously estimated it lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of the controversy.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV ended an 18-month suspension of the league in March 2022, and there were signs of a thawing in relations when six-time All-Star Jimmy Butler toured the country in the summer of 2023.

The NBA is working to expand its global presence, hosting several preseason games in Abu Dhabi and several regular-season games in Mexico City and Paris in recent years.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.