The King can learn plenty from Kanter
league, who cash in a few million-dollar paydays and are thrown to the wolves of the economy for the rest of their lives. A million dollars is enough that you could imagine losing it, and many players have.
LeBron trying to shore up those players’ financial positions would still be depressing. It would be him supporting the financial security of a handful of millionaires over the formerly uncontroversial right of Americans to criticize an obviously bad government. But at least he’d be throwing the people of Hong Kong (and China) under the bus out of some noble impulse.
However, if LeBron truly believes NBA players could have been harmed “physically,” then obviously, any partnership with the Chinese government needs to be ended immediately. Even in the most cynical calculus, a government that would hurt the very people it’s in business with over a tweet is far too dangerous to be in business with.
If he just believes NBA players were hurt financially by Morey’s tweet, that’s not a reason to say Morey shouldn’t have tweeted. A stance that costs nothing isn’t really an impressive one.
3. LEBRON UNDERSTANDS THE SITUATION, AND BELIEVES EXACTLY WHAT HE’S SAYING
This is the most cynical reading of his comments, and unfortunately the most likely. “I’m not discussing the substance…Could have waited a week to send it,” James added later. In other words, innocuous support for protesters is only acceptable when Xi Jinping won’t get so mad about it while James is in town.
The implications of this are monstrous: What Morey said was fine, but he should have sent it after LeBron’s Lakers finished a series of preseason games in China.
If LeBron’s objection really is that “So many people could have been harmed,” then his beef isn’t with Morey. It’s with Adam Silver, who left the Lakers and Nets in China after the situation began to boil. (It’s also, by implication, with the Chinese government, which, according to LeBron, would consider harming people over a tweet supporting “freedom.”)
By admitting he doesn’t care about the “substance” of the tweet, LeBron is saying the NBA’s ability to make money in China is more important than the people of Hong Kong, or the rights of Americans to speak in the U.S.
Enes Kanter has done what LeBron James and Adam Silver and the rest of the NBA failed to do with China. He sacrificed. He believed in a cause and zealously spoke against totalitarian Turkish president Recep Erdogan, regardless of the consequences. So it was no coincidence that, in the wake of LeBron condemning Daryl Morey’s free speech to protect the bottom-line Monday, Kanter reminded everybody on Twitter what he has lost by opposing Erdogan.
It was a shot at LeBron’s weak stance.
“Haven’t seen or talked to my family 5 years,” Kanter wrote. “Jailed my dad. My siblings can’t find jobs. Revoked my passport. International arrest warrant. My family can’t leave the country. Got Death Threats everyday. Got attacked, harassed. Tried to kidnap me in Indonesia.
“FREEDOM FREE.”
As the NBA learned recently — and Kanter has known for years — objecting to an authoritarian government has consequences. Not only was Kanter’s freedom jeopardized, he has been turned down by Nike as an endorser because, according to the Celtics center, the company fears economic reprisal from Turkey.
“Outside of the court I make almost no money,” Kanter said last year while still with the Knicks. “American companies are scared to give me a contract.”
It’s relevant to the China conundrum. James and the other NBA players were in China last IS NOT week to play a pair of exhibitions and promote brands. But then Morey’s tweet supporting the human rights of Hong Kong’s residents turned the trip into a political debate instead of a commercial tour. It seemed to jeopardize a lucrative business partnership, although it’s unclear if China actually threatened to sever ties with the NBA. Rather than blame the communist Chinese government for suppressing free speech through intimidation, James targeted Morey.
“I don’t want to get in a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey. But I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke,” James said. “So many people could have been harmed, not only physically or financially, but emotionally and spiritually. Just be careful what we tweet, what we say and what we do. We do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative things that come with that too.”
James’ money in China might’ve remained intact but he left himself open to accusations of hypocrisy. Kanter didn’t have to mention LeBron or China to highlight the discrepancy.
“I have a prominent platform and I want to use it to promote respect for human rights, democracy, and personal freedom,” Kanter wrote in the Boston Globe on Oct. 10. “For me, this is bigger than basketball. Being a champion of tens of thousands of voiceless people back in my home country carries a risk that includes death threats and arrest warrants.”