The NBA staged its second sold-out pre-season friendly in little more than a year at the O2 Arena in southeast London last night, but the event was more significant for the promise of what is to come for the sport in Britain in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.

The New Jersey Nets beat the Miami Heat 94-92 in front of 18,689 fans as preparations continued for the NBA regular season, which opens at the end of the month, but an exhibition game selling out in a matter of days this summer — as, too, did last season’s meeting between the Boston Celtics and the Minnesota Timberwolves — has greatly encouraged David Stern, the NBA commissioner.

Even before an impressive and emerging Great Britain team take to the floor at the Games in London, for example, the NBA expects to have played at least one regular-season game in the city. “Although we have no plans on the drawing-board, it has been suggested to us that, over the next three years or so, we should schedule regular-season games here, more than just one,” Stern said.

“In the light of the success we have enjoyed here — this game sold out virtually immediately — our response has been, ‘Let us go back and think about it.’ I think it’s fair to say we will see a minimum of one regular-season game here in the UK before 2012.”

Although the NBA played a regular-season game on foreign soil as long ago as 1990, in Tokyo, where they made two subsequent visits, the lack of suitable facilities has dissuaded them from following suit in the intervening years, especially given that the league would have to “buy out” one of its teams’ 41 home dates to convince them to travel. However, the size and pricing structure at the O2 makes an overseas regular-season game a viable option and London is the favourite to host such an undertaking.

Stern was, however, less impressed by news that a rethink by Olympic organisers means that only the semifinals and final of the 2012 basketball competition will be played at the O2. A plan to build a temporary venue to stage the group games has been shelved for budgetary reasons amid reports that the antiquated Wembley Arena may host the bulk of the competition.

“The O2 is spectacular and will be a great place for the finals,” Stern said. “Unfortunately, despite the early assurances that there would be some state-of-the-art arena that would house the basketball competition, we understand only the semi-finals and final will be here and the rest of the tournament might be played at . . . possibly Wembley Arena, which was outdated when we played there in 1993. This is a giant step backwards.” Last night, the low-key intensity of the basketball mattered little to the O2 crowd, which included Jay-Z, the hip-hop artist and part-owner of the Nets.

Jay-Z was among a list of celebrities that featured Dizzee Rascal, his fellow musician, and Tom Daley and Phillips Idowu, the Olympians. The footballers Alan Smith, Djibril Cissé and Darren Bent were present although David Beckham, a newfound NBA supporter, and a number of his England team-mates were prevented from attending by more pressing matters.

The Nets went into an early 30-11 lead but allowed Miami to recover and set up an exciting finale in which Vince Carter, their star guard, sealed the win from a free throw with 3.7 seconds remaining. Carter led the Nets with 19 points, the same tally as Miami’s Marcus Banks.

“This has been a terrific experience,” Lawrence Frank, the New Jersey coach whose team also beat Miami in Paris on Thursday, said. “We have experienced two beautiful cities and it’s been really useful for us.”

Explore More Sport

• Athletics

• Boxing

• Cycling

• Sailing

• US Sport