NBA leadership continues to monitor trade negotiations between the United States and China with the belief a resolution both sides find agreeable would help soothe its own relationships with their most profitable foreign market.

China's state-run CCTV has not aired an NBA game through the season's first three weeks, but games have returned to Tencent with the exception of the Houston Rockets. Nobody around the league could offer an approximate timetable for when their impasse with China would be resolved. NBA and CCTV officials have maintained communication.

The Rockets have lost more than $7 million in revenue this season from cancelled Chinese sponsorship agreements and nearly $20 million overall when terminated multiyear deals are calculated, according to sources.

Many executives said they would like the NBA to develop guidelines for dealing with China and other politically sensitive topics.