Since opening its first store in 1998, the NBA has seen increasing business opportunities in foreign markets mainly due to the influx of new international players.

The biggest growth has been in China, where players Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, combined with the interest generated by the 2008 Summer Olympics, created enough demand to open two new stores.

[2] The store is frequently visited by celebrities, tourists, and NBA players who are in town to play the New York Knicks or Brooklyn Nets.

[6] The NBA Store in New York City allowed its customers to rent areas for birthday parties[7] or other private celebrations[8] and has hosted charity events in the past.

[10] In 2007, the store held a fashion exhibition to celebrate the Casual Male Retail Group acquisition of the men's big & tall clothing company Jared M., a company popular among athletes and celebrities for its custom sportswear; several NBA players were happy to show their support since the founder had fitted many of them in the past.

"The amount of dollars the landlord is requiring from the next tenant, we couldn't find a way to make it work," NBA executive vice president of global merchandising Sal LaRocca said.

[19] Statistics revealed that 300 million out of China's 1.3 billion population played basketball, additionally "83 percent of males between 15 to 61 years old are interested in the game," and the NBA was reported to be "the most popular sports league in the country.

[26] In preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics in China, the NBA opened a flagship store in Beijing; the JuneYao Group was chosen to lead marketing operations for the retail chain-store.

[30] About one third of the traffic received at nba.com comes from their Chinese area (china.nba.com) written in Mandarin[21] built by the Plus Factory, a New York City firm with offices in Beijing.

[32][33] The MMORPG Second Life, an Internet-based virtual game world, offers its members the option of playing or shopping at a digital replica of the NBA Store.

"[34] The virtual store's entrance is modeled after the New York City location, featuring the same double revolving doors and gold NBA lettering.