NBA’S ties with China strained
Tweet sympathizing with Hong Kong puts relationship at risk
It wasn’t even a month ago t hat NBA commissioner Adam Silver sat overlooking center court at an arena in Beijing, watching t he gold- medal game at t he World Cup with other basketball dig nita ries.
That night was all smiles.
Silver’ s return to China later t his week will be much different.
The relationship bet ween China and the NBA—a multibillion-dollar marriage that involves media rights, streaming, merchandise sales and much more—is strained right now in ways unlike any other since the league first began planting roots therein earnest three decades ago. A since- deleted tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey that showed support for Hong Kong anti- government protesters prompted an immediate backlash, complicated further by the timing of the NBA having two pres ea son games in China t his week.
“We apologize ,” Rockets star James Harden said in Japan on Monday. “We love China. We love playing there. I know for both of us individually we go there once or twice a year. They show us the most support and love. So we appreciate them as a fan base and we love everything they’ re about and we appreciate the support that they give us individually and as an organization.”
That support is being stern ly tested, be it from tweets that were deleted, uproars over an NBA statement t hat had some of its meaning lost in translation when posted in Mandarin and even t he cancellation announced Monday of two G League games to be played in China between the minorleague affiliates of the Rockets and t he Dallas Mavericks.
At least one Chinese sporting goods company said it was no longer cooperating with the Rocket sand a sports news website in China said it was no longer covering t he tea m.
“There is no doubt, the economic impact is already clear ,” Silver told Kyodo News in an inter v iew Monday. “There have a lready been fa irly dramatic consequences f rom t hat t weet, and I have read some of t he media sug gesting t hat we are not suppor ting Dar yl Morey, but in fact we have.”
The NBA is enormously popular in China: Oft- cited f ig ures f rom basketba l l executives in both t he U. S. and China say t hat 300 million people play t he game recreationa l ly t here and t hat about 500 million Chinese watched at least one NBA game last season.
A nd t he Rockets are among t he big gest tea m brands t here, no doubt because Chinese sta r Yao Ming — a Basketba l l Hall of Famer — spent his NBA ca reer with Houston.
Yao is now president of t he Chinese Basketba l l Association, which announced over t he weekend it is suspending its ties with t he Rockets in reta liation for Morey ’s t weet. While Yao has not shared his persona l feelings on t he topic, it ’s clea r t hat t he relationship bet ween Yao and his only NBA tea m is currently, at best, rock y.
Silver will address t he matter at a news conference Tuesday in Japan.