For the past few days, the NBA’s relationship with China has been under intense scrutiny after a now-deleted tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting protestors in Hong Kong.
China Central Television and the country’s largest internet provider Tencent each suspended broadcasts of both games between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets in China, with CCTV providing the strongest statement against Morey and Adam Silver’s support for Morey’s freedom of expression. Sportswear companies like Li-Ning and Anta have also cut ties with the NBA. But only a few hours after the first of two games between the Lakers and Nets actually went on as planned, it appears China is trying to turn down the heat on what’s become geopolitical firestorm for them and the league.
According to new reporting from the New York Times, the Chinese government is encouraging journalists to tamp down on the anti-NBA sentiment that has gained so much attention over the past few days and anti-NBA trending topics have been removed from the Chinese social media site Weibo.
Chinese businesses announced throughout the week that they would be cutting ties with the NBA, which has several NBA teams planning for a scenario in which the financial impact significantly lowers the league’s salary cap. But that worst case scenario may not come to pass as it appears Beijing realizes the attention it’s getting for this particular tiff with the NBA is not all good.
According to the Times reporting, China fears continuing to foment nationalistic rage towards the NBA would bring unwanted attention to the Hong Kong protests or even lead to a boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympics in China.
But just because China is telling media outlets to soften on the anti-NBA stances doesn’t necessarily mean that the players on either the Los Angeles Lakers or Brooklyn Nets will speak to the media when they play against each other on Saturday in Shenzhen.
This story is far from over, but China’s posture towards the NBA after the last few days has definitely changed.
