The National Basketball Association said yesterday it won’t make the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers available to media for the rest of their China visit, amid a furore over a tweet by a Houston Rockets executive supporting Hong Kong’s protesters.
The teams had been scheduled to address news conferences yesterday afternoon in Shenzhen, ahead of today’s exhibition game in the southern Chinese city on the border with Hong Kong that the league says will proceed as planned.
“We have decided not to hold media availability for our teams for the remainder of our trip in China. They have been placed into a complicated and unprecedented situation while abroad and we believe it would be unfair to ask them to address these matters in real-time,” the league said in a statement.
No players or executives were made available for official briefings this week in China as the league grappled with the backlash from the quickly deleted tweet by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey last weekend in support of Hong Kong anti-government protests. The China market is estimated to be worth more than $4 billion for the NBA.
China has accused the West of stirring up anti-Beijing sentiment in Hong Kong, and Chinese state media has characterised Morey’s tweet as the latest example of meddling in China’s affairs. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver defended Morey’s freedom of expression in a statement issued on Tuesday, further angering Beijing.
Fan events were cancelled this week and partners have cut ties with the NBA, underscoring the severity of the situation for the league. Athletes such as Lakers star forward LeBron James and league figures have also declined to answer questions when spotted by reporters at various venues in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
