NBA in China : Money or Basketball?

Costly Consequences

China’s state-owned broadcast group, CCTV, has suspended all broadcasting of NBA Games in China. The deal between CCTV and the NBA is worth a whopping $1.5 Billion. NBA teams might take a huge blow to their cap space if anything goes south with the deal. Especially in this era where all the star players are on track to receive Supermax contracts.

The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), sportswear brand Li Ning, and China’s SPD Bank have suspended all partnerships with the Rockets.

This would be a $4 Billion fallout if the NBA does not resolve this multi-billion dollar affair.

Media Attention

This is the silver lining to this drama

Since this drama began, the NBA has gained international attention as they began to appear on the front pages of big-name news outlets. The media attention gave the NBA a larger domestic fanbase as Adam Silver defending Daryl Morey presented the NBA as a true American association. That is until they apologized….. (South Park mocked them for it)

Censorship

The NBA has been prohibiting journalists from asking questions relating to the feud between China and the NBA.

A CNN reporter’s attempt to acquire feedback from Russell Westbrook and James Harden regarding the political fallout was quickly batted as the Houston Rockets PR representatives rushed to take the mic away from her to prevent more statements regarding politics to be made.

Lebron James

Just as the controversy is about to die down, NBA Superstar, Lebron James, made a statement regarding Daryl Morey’s tweet.

Lebron said that Daryl was uneducated regarding the Hong Kong situation. He also suggested that Daryl should take a more cautious approach regarding situations like this.

The remarks that were made by Lebron caused an uproar on Twitter which saw many fans criticize Lebron about his remarks

The Hong Kongers were particularly insulted as they believe that Lebron is prioritizing money over democracy. This is the woeful truth as Lebron has a huge fanbase abroad in China. Most of his endorsement deals come from companies with a big Chinese market. Furthermore, there would most likely be a representative from Nike advising Lebron on what to say when faced with this type of question.

To say that Lebron knocked it out of the park with that interview would be true. Lebron sided with China which is an utter disgrace. This led to angry Hong Kong protesters burning his jersey and backlash from American fans.

Let’s be honest, they are most likely going to repurchase those burnt jerseys when the feud has died down and this move bolstered his image among the Chinese which in a way is a win-win situation for him as it leads to the eventual goal of increasing sales.

More than an athlete

Many NBA stars and most importantly Lebron, have built this image that pictures themselves as a person that is more than an athlete. They try to let the public view them as more of a politician than “basketball player”, often criticizing political candidates and business owners. Yet, they have failed to address the elephant in the room.

All the NBA stars avoid talking about China as they have a massive fanbase there. But that is all the more to talk about it and speaking their mind, not avoiding questions or diverting the subject. Being a politician is about changing the future, not caving to foreign governments that threaten to cut off their economical funding abroad.

Lebron James, in particular, has been an outspoken critic of Donald Trump and has even plotted with the Golden State Warriors to turn down the White House invitation should one of them win a championship, and yet, in the true face of a demon, Lebron backs down from defending basic human rights and even calls out others for going against China’s will.

Author’s View

As a result, I think that the NBA did the right thing standing up for Daryl Morey’s freedom of speech but they shouldn’t have apologized for it afterward. This shows that the NBA prioritizes money over basketball and democracy, and it is also a trend where multi-billion dollar corporations “kow tou” to the Chinese government in order to retain their billion-dollar deals.