More than 450 million people in China -- more than a third of the population -- watch NBA games on television and nearly as many are estimated to play the game here.

"It would be good if there was a league that was a cooperative effort between the NBA and the CBA (China Basketball Association)... definitely that is our plan, it would be our desire," said David Stern, NBA commissioner.

"We would hope over time to reach some decision with the CBA about a joint cooperative league," he said at the Golden State Warrior-Milwaukee Buck pre-season game played in Beijing Saturday before a crowd and broadcast live to millions of fans in China.

Exhibition games are part of a drive by the NBA to get a foothold in increasingly prosperous China.

China's current professional league, also called the CBA, is managed by European sports marketing firm Infront but is nowhere near as popular as the NBA.

Stern said the NBA was currently in talks with the CBA and Infront on a series of projects, but he refused to detail any potential plans for a joint NBA-CBA-run league.

He also refused to discuss domestic media reports that the coming CBA season would be the last campaign for Infront, which has been reportedly losing money.

"As a matter of fact, we are in talks with Infront and the CBA about cooperation," Stern said.

"But right now we are spending our time growing all of our other businesses, which are going very well, (including) sponsorships, digital (Internet), television, merchandising and events."

As part of NBA's push into China, it this week announced joint projects to build an arena in Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo and another in Guangzhou in time for the 2010 Asian Games, Stern said.


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David Stern will have the NBA full of international players by the time he finally retires. I think that was his vision from the beginning. To rid the league of American players so that the NBA could be real contenders globally. It's almost like he has to do this.  These International leagues are paying some serious ass money overseas and I believe that players are going to be taking that into consideration pretty soon. They won't have to worry about the NBA's luxury tax if they do so.