Ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Macao last Friday, Sands China CEO and President Grant Chum said the city is diversifying its economy away from gaming to become "a city of sports and ... a city of entertainment."

In an interview on "Squawk Box Asia," Chum cited a deal announced in early December between Sands China and North America's National Basketball Association to play two NBA pre-season games in China.

"We'll be bringing the NBA China games back to China, but this time in Macao," Chum told CNBC's Emily Tan. "We don't want just to do a one-off event. We believe that a multi-year partnership, where we're going to be playing these pre-season games over several years, is going to really bolster Macao's positioning."

The games are part of Sands China's commitment to invest $4.5 billion into the city through 2032, of which "over 90% ... will be in non-gaming investments," said Chum.

Collectively, Macao's six gaming operators pledged to invest nearly $15 billion to make Macao's economy less dependent on gambling revenue. The operators' gaming licenses were renewed in 2022 -- albeit for 10 years, instead of 20 -- after each promised to invest heavily in non-gaming projects.