NBA China and the Shanghai Jiushi Basketball Club have announced a multi-year partnership agreement aimed at developing the club’s players, coaches, and management staff, sh.chinanews.com.cn reported. This agreement marks the first time the NBA has established a partnership of this nature with a Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) team.
Four Pillars of Development
The multi-year collaboration focuses on four distinct operational areas: elite player training, tournament exchange, coaching development, and executive mentorship. Through the player pathway initiative, NBA China will coordinate specialized training opportunities, development resources, and international basketball platform exposure for high-potential members of the Shanghai roster. On the administrative side, club executives will travel to the United States to study basketball operations and business strategies alongside NBA league and franchise personnel.
Troy Justice, NBA Senior Vice President and Head of International Basketball Operations, noted the significance of aligning with the club. “With the Shanghai Jiushi Basketball Club, our partnership is an important part of our long-term commitment to supporting the development of basketball at all levels in China,” Justice stated via sh.chinanews.com.cn. Wang Zhenwei, chairman of the Shanghai Jiushi Basketball Club, emphasized that the agreement underscores a pragmatic and complementary approach to international expansion.
Building on National Federation Ties
This club-level agreement directly expands upon the overarching multi-year collaboration established between NBA China and the Chinese Basketball Association in October 2025. That national-level framework was designed to facilitate training camps and competition tours in the United States for Chinese national teams, while simultaneously supporting talent pipelines for elite players, coaches, and referees.
Practical implementation has already begun ahead of the formal announcement. Earlier in the year, representatives from Shanghai’s youth development system utilized NBA China’s support network to attend and train at specialized basketball preparatory high schools in the United States. Since 2009, joint initiatives between NBA China and domestic basketball authorities have provided professional training resources to over 3,500 coaches, athletes, and officials.
