KING’S BAD LOOK
LeBron James does himself few favors with his take on NBA-China situation
LeBron James finally spoke on the Daryl Morey-China controversy on Monday night, and he came down on the side of the Chinese government. “We all do have freedom of speech,” James said, “but at times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others and you’re only thinking about yourself. I don’t believe — I don’t want to get into into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke.”
James would later tweet that he was not talking about the “substance” of Morey’s tweet, but the lines had been drawn. The NBA’s biggest star had tacked on a “but” to freedom of speech, and more specifically, speech in support of a cause.
This began last week, with Rockets GM Morey issuing a short tweet in support of protests in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous citystate in southern China. Its residents have been protesting for four months, first over a Chinese bill that would legalize extraditing its citizens to mainland China and then in reaction to how the Chinese government has cracked down on the protests. Morey quickly deleted the tweet after Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta publicly chastised him for it, but by then it was too late. China and the NBA were at war.
Morey’s tweet, the Chinese government’s aggressive condemnation of it, and the NBA’s stumbling reaction have provoked a broader debate about how the league should go about its business with a plainly authoritarian government that, among other human rights offenses, has a million of its citizens in prison re-education camps. (The United States runs its own illegal concentration camps, too, but NBA employees are generally thought to be free to speak out against those.)
James’ reasoning behind criticizing Morey is that there could be repercussions to others, though he was unclear about what that “harm” would look like.
“So many people could have been harmed,” James said. “Not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually, so just be careful what we tweet and what we say and what we do. Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, there can be a lot of negative that comes with that too.”
LeBron’s general view is plain, though: NBA employees should not criticize the Chinese government over Hong Kong. Why he’s making that point is slightly less clear. As we cannot read LeBron’s mind, let’s run down the possibilities.
1. LEBRON DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT OR WHAT IT’S UP TO IN HONG KONG
This is the most charitable read. But why would someone who didn’t think they were educated on a situation call someone else out for not being educated? And more saliently, why would he take this route instead of just saying he didn’t know enough about the situation to talk about it? That’s what Steve Kerr did. While what Kerr did was cowardly, it was more defensible than claiming to understand the situation and taking the side that Morey’s tweet was bad.
It’s possible that LeBron might know very little about China or Hong Kong, but think he knows a lot. And while LeBron technically still draws salary, he would be more accurately described as a business unto himself.
It’s an absolute lock that Morey’s tweet came from a place of at least mild ignorance. If Morey were knowledgeable or passionate about the situation, then it’s unlikely he would have immediately deleted the tweet, then issued a mealy-mouthed statement before disappearing into witness protection for nine days and counting. But just because the messenger was deeply flawed doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with the message. There wasn’t.
2. LEBRON FULLY UNDERSTANDS THE SITUATION, BUT IS TAKING THE BULLET TO PROTECT HIS COLLEAGUES’ JOBS
Out of the realistic possibilities, this is the least depressing one. There are reported rumors that the salary cap could drop by between $11 million and $17 million a year if the NBA ultimately severs its business relationship with China. LeBron doesn’t need that money — if he retires tomorrow, generations of his family would never have to work again. But that’s not true for a sizable chunk of the players in the