NBA brings Mavericks and Rockets to Macau as Sands-hosted games coincide with Las Vegas expansion talks

The NBA is returning to Macau this weekend, with the Dallas Mavericks and Houston Rockets scheduled to meet in exhibition games on Friday and Sunday. Both teams have ties to the gambling industry: the Mavericks are owned by Miriam Adelson, the controlling shareholder of Las Vegas Sands, while the Rockets are owned by Tilman Fertitta, who acquired Caesars Entertainment in a deal valued at $17.6 billion earlier this year.

The games are being hosted mainly by Patrick Dumont, Sands CEO and Mavericks governor, at the company's Venetian Macau property. The 14,000-seat Venetian Arena staged the NBA's first game in Macau in October 2007, between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic. Of 26 NBA China games played since 2004, only three have taken place in Macau, the most recent being two games last preseason featuring the Phoenix Suns and Brooklyn Nets. The league calls the arena NBA-ready, though it would have the smallest capacity of any current NBA venue. It describes the trip as a marketing opportunity for both the league and Sands.

Star power includes Kevin Durant of the Rockets, Cooper Flagg of the Mavericks, last season's Rookie of the Year, and Kyrie Irving, who returns about 19 months after tearing his ACL.

The event comes as NBA expansion to Las Vegas is expected to be finalised by the end of the year. Rumours that the Adelsons might move the Mavericks to Las Vegas surfaced after the Luka Doncic trade in February 2025 but were quickly dismissed by the team. Sands is headquartered in Las Vegas but no longer operates casinos there.

Sands is the world's largest casino operator, but its shares have fallen nearly 45% in 2026. Macau gaming revenue has declined year over year for four consecutive months, and stakeholders hope the NBA events and the National Day Golden Week holiday, which ran from 1 to 7 October, will boost tourism.

The league's relationship with betting remains a major consideration. Commissioner Adam Silver called for legal sports betting in a 2014 op-ed, four years before the US Supreme Court's PASPA ruling. The NBA banned former Raptors forward Jontay Porter for life in 2024 over a betting scheme, and an illegal betting case involving several former players is moving through New York federal court. The league has not partnered with prediction markets, though some players have endorsed such platforms, and it has urged the CFTC to prioritise integrity in proposed rules.