Macao is having a basketball moment. The NBA China Games 2026 are heading to the city, and alongside the main event, Sands China has teamed up with NBA Cares for a five-day community programme running October 7-11, designed to spread the excitement beyond the arena.

The centrepiece so far was Youth Day on October 7 at the Macao East Asian Games Dome, which drew 300 participants. Hall of Fame sharpshooter Ray Allen — a two-time NBA champion and 10-time All-Star — led training sessions alongside Chinese stars Ding Yanyuhang and women's national team player Zhang Ziyu. Young players aged 11 to 14 from eight Macao schools were joined for the first time this year by 50 teenagers from Hong Kong and mainland Greater Bay Area cities, mixed into combined teams for friendly matches after clinics on footwork, ball-handling and both ends of the floor. A skills challenge testing cone dribbling, precision passing and sprint layups rounded out the competition.

There was also a 'Her Time To Play' seminar, where senior women from the NBA, the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets and Sands China shared career advice with young attendees — a nod to the growing profile of women in sports business and on the court.

The programme continues on October 8 with a Tip-off event at The Venetian Arena, where players from the Mavericks and Rockets will coach local secondary school students. For anyone travelling to Macao this month, it means a genuine chance of crossing paths with NBA talent at public venues around the Cotai Strip, where Sands China operates The Venetian, The Parisian, The Londoner and The Plaza.

Even if basketball isn't your thing, it's a useful signal of where Macao is heading. The city is actively pushing to reposition itself as a sports and events destination — not just casinos and shows — and the NBA China Games are a marquee part of that pitch, returning for a second consecutive year. For sports-mad travellers in Asia, Macao is quietly becoming one of the easiest places to catch world-class American basketball without a long-haul flight, with Hong Kong just an hour away by ferry or bus.

This is the second year Sands China has used the Games as a springboard for community work through its Sands Cares programme, and the Greater Bay Area expansion gives the event a regional flavour that mirrors Macao's own position as a hub connecting Guangdong, Hong Kong and the wider Pearl River Delta. Whether you're in town for the Games themselves or just passing through in October, expect a livelier-than-usual atmosphere around Cotai's resorts and arenas.