The situation between the National Basketball Association and the People’s Republic of China is looking ever more fluid by the hour. Nobody seems to know what will come next, but the recent trends indicate that the mere presence of games in China this week are in serious jeopardy.
Just a day after China’s state television station CCTV and state television giant Tencent announced they would not air the preseason games in China between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, NBA Cares events involving each team have been cancelled in consecutive days. Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times reported early Wednesday that the event involving the Lakers had been cancelled, likely due to the Chinese Department of Education.
USA TODAY’s Jeff Zillgitt reported yesterday that there was a serious possibility that the games between the Lakers and Nets, scheduled for Thursday and Saturday of this week, could be cancelled. The fallout from the tweet from Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting protestors in Hong Kong has turned into a full blown international incident, bringing the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James and he NBA with it, with no imminent end in sight.
