When Dallas resident Barrington Traille read about the NBA China Games in his local newspaper, he said he knew it was the perfect 53rd wedding anniversary present for his wife.
"I follow the Mavericks… and she follows the Rockets," he said from The Venetian Macao, which hosted the games on Oct. 9 and 11. "I decided, hey, I'm going to give you a treat. We are going to China." They planned the trip, their first to Asia, less than a week before tip-off and brought along their son Dominic.
The two Texas teams squared off in a pair of pre-season games over the weekend at the NBA China Games 2026, the second in a five-year deal to hold the event in Macao.
The decision made the Traille family a part of one of the fastest-growing trends in the travel industry: live event tourism, which includes traveling to attend music concerts, sporting events and business conferences.
The NBA China Games 2026 combined all three, blending professional basketball games, fan events featuring K-pop performances and an off-court summit with speakers ranging from Alibaba Chairman Joe Tsai to sports stars Yao Ming and David Beckham.