China row upstages NBA return to Japan

SA ITAMA, JAPAN • The NBA returned to Japan for the first time in 16 years Tuesday with pre-season action between the Houston Rockets and the Toronto Raptors — but it was the league’s growing crisis in neighbouring China that demanded much of the attention.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver opened a pre-game news conference talking about the future of basketball in Japan before being peppered with questions about the uproar over a tweet by Rockets GM Daryl Morey in support of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.

Morey apologized Monday for any hurt caused by the tweet, which he deleted over the weekend after drawing swift condemnation from China’s government, fans and the team’s partners.

But the damage was already done with Houston losing sponsors and broadcasts in a key market for the NBA. In the latest fallout, China state television said it would not air NBA exhibition games played in the country this week.

Silver said he had issued an additional statement on the China row Tuesday in part because of CCTV’s announcement that it would no longer be airing the pre-season games between the Lakers and Nets.

“It’s not something we expected to happen. It’s unfortunate,” Silver said.

“But if that’s the consequences of us adhering to our values, we still feel it’s critically important to adhere to those values,” he said, stressing the NBA’s commitment to freedom of expression for its employees.

Silver said he would travel to Shanghai as planned Wednesday and attend the Lakers-Nets game Thursday night. “It’s my hope, when I’m in Shanghai, I can meet with the appropriate officials and discuss where we stand and can put those remarks from Daryl Morey in an appropriate context,” he said.