Lakers, Nets are seen but not heard
LeBron James raised his arms in appreciation of the cheering crowd in Shanghai shortly after the final buzzer, then removed his headband and flipped it toward some ticketholders clamoring for a one-of-a-kind souvenir.
He was seen.
He wasn’t heard, though. Nor was any other player or coach in an NBA game played in China like none other.
In response to the NBA defending Daryl Morey’s freedom of speech, Chinese officials took it away from the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets. All of the usual media sessions that were to be part of the teams’ preseason game Thursday — including a news conference from NBA commissioner Adam Silver and postgame news conferences with the teams — were canceled. It was the latest salvo in the rift between the league and China stemming from a since-deleted tweet posted last week by Morey, the Rockets’ general manager.
“There will be no media availabilities for tonight’s game between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers,” the NBA said in a statement, released a few hours before the game.
And there wasn’t. The game was held as scheduled, with James and Nets guard Kyrie Irving getting loud ovations when they were introduced as starters. But neither the U.S. nor the Chinese national anthem was played before the game, and no players addressed the crowd before tip-off in a departure from tradition before such international games. Fans arriving at the arena to watch — many of them donning NBA jerseys — were handed small Chinese flags to carry with them inside, and at least one person carried a sign critical of Silver.
The Nets won 114-111, but that is not why this game will be remembered. Virtually all corporate signage was removed from the playing surface and other spots in Mercedes-Benz Arena, fans carried tiny Chinese flags and some even painted their country’s colors onto the faces.
“If we have to choose, we will choose to support our country,” said fan Ma Shipeng, who brought 900 miniature Chinese flags to hand out to fellow fans. “We only like some particular basketball players, but we don’t like NBA anymore. I give away Chinese flags tonight, as I hope people to put the national interest in front of following NBA. I will continue to support James. But none of our Chinese people would accept what Morey and Silver said.”
Morey’s tweet that showed support for antigovernment protesters in Hong Kong has put a massive dent in the multibilliondollar relationship between China and the NBA. And that tweet was why Chinese officials did not permit questions to be asked in Shanghai.
Most events in advance of the game, such as NBA Cares events to benefit educational causes and the Special Olympics, were called off as was a “fan night” where Lakers and Nets players were to interact directly with some Chinese ticketholders. Signage in Shanghai to promote the game was ripped down, and mentions of the game were scrubbed from the arena website.