It's a good thing you can pirate the NBA or use a VPN. Less committed fans will simply accept that China just censor the NBA for telling "lies." You can't pirate your way into hosting a international tournament.
That's closer, but I don't think that's quite the same. Esports seems to serve more so as marketing for videogames. The CCP is trying to discourage its population from playing videogames, so they doubt that they care if they lose out on American ones. Also, esports don't have nearly the prestige of physical sports at the moment, though that could change in the future.