Signs of reconciliation as China airing games, honoring Kobe

Ties were strained last year after Rockets GM tweeted support of Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters

The day after Kobe Bryant died, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, posted a statement on Twitter: “Saddened by the tragic loss of #KobeBryant. An inspiration for many and a legend of his generation, he will always be remembered for his contribution to the world of sport and to #ChinaUS people-to-people exchanges.”

Though Bryant was a huge star in the country — even the most popular sports figure, for a while — the ambassador’s message was notable. China and the NBA have been on the outs since October, when Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, shared an image on Twitter that showed support for the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. This roiled the Chinese government and instantly derailed decades of league efforts to court the country’s sizable basketball audience, initiating a conflict at the rare intersection of sports, domestic politics, corporate profits and international relations.

Four months later, China is grappling with the coronavirus that has sickened thousands of its people and disrupted

the economy, and as the NBA embarks on its signature All-Star Weekend in Chicago, there are signs that tension between the two sides has begun to dissipate, even beyond the tweet from Cui.

“Right now, our focus is on working with global health organizations to provide whatever assistance we can to the people of China in response to the coronavirus outbreak,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told the New York Times on Thursday in an emailed statement. “Many of our Chinese partners were unable to attend our NBA All-Star events because of travel restrictions, but all of the weekend’s events will be carried in China on Tencent.”

This, too, is notable. Tencent, the

Chinese streaming network, after initially stopping its coverage, has been showing up to three games a night. China’s state-run television network, China Central Television, canceled its broadcasts of the preseason games between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets and several other related league events in the aftermath of Morey’s tweet. Silver, at a live event soon after, said the Chinese government had demanded that Morey be fired — but he immediately said no. The NBA has not been back on CCTV since.

There are those around the league who believe there is a chance that CCTV airs the NBA All-Star Game — and more games after that. Joe Tsai, the co-founder of the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba and owner of the Nets, recently told Bloomberg News, “Once you’re on the air, everything will come back.”

At the time of the initial controversy, Yao Ming, the former Rockets great and chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, was described as “extremely hot” by Silver over the situation. But he traveled to the U.S. last month to attend a memorial service for David Stern, the former commissioner of the NBA. Silver and Yao spoke at the memorial, according to a source familiar with the discussion who was not authorized to disclose it publicly. Last week, Huang Ping, the Chinese consulate general, thanked the league at a media briefing in New York for donating $1.4 million to Hubei province, the center of the coronavirus, to help fight its spread. Several NBA teams marked the Chinese New Year with promotions at their arenas, as they have in other years.

“I see it as something that’s going to take time,” said Todd Ramasar, an NBA agent with overseas clients who has also negotiated deals in China. “I don’t think it’s something as simple as saying this is centered around the NBA. This is much bigger than that.”

The timing of the All-Star Game on Sunday may be a stroke of good luck for the NBA because of the larger domestic politics involved. On Friday, the first phase of the trade deal struck last month between China and the U.S. will take effect, signaling the warmest point in the relationship between the two countries since

President Donald Trump took office.

Earlier this month, at his State of the Union speech, Trump said, “We have perhaps the best relationship we’ve ever had with China, including with President Xi,” referring to China’s leader, Xi Jinping. On Feb. 7, Trump praised Xi for the Chinese government’s response to the coronavirus.

But there is also mixed messaging — an indication of the often fraught relationship between the two countries. At the end of January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called the ruling party in China the “the central threat of our times.”

It is unclear what the business impact of the China fallout has been for the NBA. One indicator is the league’s salary cap, the amount that each team can spend on player contracts each season. It is determined by the amount of basketball related income the NBA takes in. Next season, it is projected to be $116 million, an increase from $109.1 million this season, according to ESPN — an indication that the league is in a healthy place. However, projections can change. And China is one of several external revenue streams.