While a debate raged stateside last week over the NBA’s handling of a controversy fueled by a Daryl Morey tweet expressing support for Hong Kong protestors, Lakers and Nets players found themselves in the eye of the storm as they prepared to play a pair of exhibition games in China. As Shams Charania of The Athletic and ESPN’s Rachel Nichols report, those players met with commissioner Adam Silver to discuss potential next steps when he arrived in Shanghai last Wednesday.
Charania describes Silver as being “extremely thoughtful and transparent” in talks with Lakers and Nets players, coaches, and executives, while Nichols refers to the meeting as “tense.” Multiple sources tell Charania that LeBron James said he believed Silver and the NBA had a responsibility to talk to the media about the situation in more depth before asking the players to do so. Players also spoke about wanting to feel safe and protected during the China trip without being put into unfair positions, Charania notes.
“Being in China, where there was no way of knowing what the Chinese government was thinking or going to do next and the high stakes between the U.S. and China politically, it was almost impossible for these young players to manage through that situation,” a source with knowledge of the meeting told Charania. “Obviously, if they were in the United States or somewhere else, it would have been totally different and handled differently.”
The exhibition games in Shanghai and Shenzhen took place as scheduled, though there was some skepticism earlier in the week that they would happen at all. According to Charania, a “sizeable amount” of players on the Lakers and Nets felt as if it would be best to cancel those games due to the ongoing chaos.
With both teams now back in America, here’s the last on the NBA/China saga:
- Sources told Charania that some Lakers and Nets players lost money over broken deals in Shanghai, since they ended up not making planned sponsorship appearances. Charania also reports that at least two Rockets players had sponsorship negotiations with Chinese companies hit an impasse in the wake of Morey’s tweet.
- Several executive and ownership sources who spoke to Charania believe Silver will “regain a foothold” in the league’s relationship with China, but fear “irreparable losses” for the Rockets going forward. China’s response to Morey’s tweet may end up costing the Rockets approximately $25MM in sponsorship money this season, one source estimates to Marc Stein of The New York Times.
- During last week’s meeting with Lakers and Nets players in Shanghai, Silver was asked directly whether anything would happen to Morey, per ESPN’s report. According to ESPN, multiple players said they thought that if a player cost the league millions of dollars with a tweet, there would be repercussions. Morey won’t face any discipline from the league, which seems like the right call, since his message ostensibly showed support for human rights and democracy.
- Tom Ziller of SBNation explores the two potential paths the NBA/China controversy could take from here.
25 million? Pfft. The Rockets will make that up in concession sales next season. “Get your $30 nachos!”
Hopefully a championship (or two) will offset all those losses.
Silver and the NBA is so gutless they will go back to China next year and put teams into another awkward situation. If jerseys are selling all is well in Silvers mind. Fertitta is gutless too. He is scared to death of paying luxury tax so 25 million lost in China might as well be doomsday
Why isn’t the US government doing the talking & acting against China? They should cut off all economic & diplomatic ties with China, then the NBA would follow nicely, but you can’t expect the league to do what the government is too scared of doing.
Have you ever considered thinking about things from the other sides view or do you not have that capability?
There is no “other side” in human rights issues like this. Better go stand in line behind Adam and Tillman to kiss the honorable chairmans boots
Millennials are useless
If Silver is as smart as he and his minions say, then the first thing he needs to do stateside is start meeting with the owners (collectively) and then with players association on the “China” issue. It goes way beyond HK, which represents only about a half of 1% of the Chinese population, and is not itself an NBA target market or destination. With the curtain pulled back by Bejing’s rhetoric, more than the actions of HK law enforcement, there is going to be more focus going forward (or at least some) on the way this government treats ALL its citizens. While a complete withdrawal from China isn’t warranted at this point, they need to have a strategy to do just that. Communism is “all or nothing” and it’s incumbent on those who deal with this ethic to be ready to approach it that way from their perspective as well. Personally, I don’t think Silver is up to this, but we’ll see.
What does LeBron’s opinion about this have to do with this?
Since he is quickly becoming a “former” NBA star he is looking for ways to keep himself in the spotlight with the impression that his opinions matter.
He averaged 27, 7, and 7 last year and is quickly becoming a “former” star? You must forsee one of the biggest drop offs in nba history. Evidently, if he averages 24, 5, and 5 this season he’s ready for the stockpile. Lol!
… to have a bar set so high in yr 18
Bronbron is a clown
Notice how all the virtue signaling jerk offs are all silent. Why? Because they all know there’s no such thing as social injustice in the United States and they painted themselves into that corner.
Thanks for the clarification on that SQW.