This was one of the most controversial games in NBA history.
It wasn’t because of a bad call or a player ejection.
It was because of a tweet.
We’re at the NBA preseason match
between the Brooklyn Nets and LA Lakers in Shanghai.
An hour before the game,
we could see people handing out Chinese flags to fans.
It was a reminder of the politically charged events
that led up to the game.
So how exactly did the NBA manage to piss off an entire country?
It all started when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey
posted his support for the Hong Kong protests on Twitter.
The tweet was quickly deleted
but not before sparking outrage in China,
where the protests are viewed as an issue of sovereignty.
The NBA rushed out a statement distancing itself from Morey,
but it was roundly criticized as equivocating.
U.S. politicians accused the NBA of kowtowing to China
and restricting free speech,
and Chinese fans called it a non-apology.
For the first time in over 30 years
since entering the Chinese market,
the NBA found itself stuck
between Chinese and American interests.
Until now, the NBA has largely avoided political topics
in China to grow its fanbase there,
while in the United States,
the NBA has developed an image
as the “most woke sports league”
for allowing players to openly express their political views.
In the end, the NBA chose free speech.
The effect in China was immediate.
The government canceled fan events in Shanghai
and suspended NBA broadcasts.
Posters were removed,
sponsor booths were taken down,
and Rockets-related merch
was pulled from e-commerce sites.
When the players arrived at the Ritz-Carlton on Oct. 8,
there were only a handful of fans there to greet them.
And that would be a big problem for the NBA.
China is the NBA’s largest overseas market.
Last season, over 490 million viewers in China
tuned into live broadcasts on the streaming website Tencent.
Basketball is one of the country’s favorite sports.
Three hundred million people play the game in China,
and the NBA has built a business there worth over $4 billion.
According to the USC Sports Business Institute,
the Chinese market contributes to at least 10%
of the league's current revenue,
and it's expected to reach 20% by 2030.
Ironically, the team that has helped boost
the NBA’s profile in China
is none other than the Houston Rockets.
In 2002, the Rockets recruited Yao Ming
as their first pick in the NBA draft.
He played there for eight seasons,
and the Rockets instantly became China’s favorite team,
which is why Morey’s tweet stung even more.
Here’s why the issue feels so personal to many Chinese people.
Now, the fans are publicly threatening
to boycott the NBA in droves.
Other brands have also faced PR crises
because of apparent slights against the Chinese people.
Versace and Coach got in trouble in August
for some shirts that listed Hong Kong and Macau
separate from China.
And the consequences are huge.
No one knows that more than Dolce & Gabbana,
which faced a massive boycott after releasing
an advertisement perceived as racist.
The company is still paying for its slight one year on.
Back at the NBA game in Shanghai,
the stadium was still pretty full,
despite the controversy of the past several days.
Many fans didn’t want to talk to us on camera
because they feared being doxxed by other Chinese people.
But in private,
they admitted that they didn’t want to have to choose
between their love for the game
and their country.