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The teams had been scheduled to address news
conferences on Friday afternoon in Shenzhen, ahead of Saturday'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.
PACKED STANDS
The first of the two exhibition games scheduled in China took
place on Thursday night, which the Nets won 114-111. It was
well-attended and saw little in the way of patriotic protest.
The crowd waved Chinese flags in the arena before the game
started, but the packed stands gave the players a huge welcome
on court and shouted enthusiastically throughout the game.
But Chinese fans who did not have a ticket could not watch:
state television CCTV and Tencent, who hold the rights to show
the NBA in the country, are not carrying any of the China games
on their platforms.
Houston Rockets sneakers and other merchandise have been pulled
from several Nike and NBA stores in major Chinese cities, with
the franchise's direct association with Morey making it a
central target of the furore. Managers at some of the Nike
stores said they had been instructed to remove the goods via an
internal memo from management.
In a Facebook post on Sunday, Nets owner Joe Tsai, the
co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, attempted to
play mediator. But his post invited more controversy in the
United States after he labelled protesters in Hong Kong as
"separatists".
Chen Minqi, a 20-year-old Chinese Lakers fan, said outside the
hotel in Shenzhen where the Lakers were staying that Morey
shouldn't interfere in other countries' affairs.
"Still, sport is sport and we shouldn't punish the Lakers and
the NBA for his mistake," Chen said.
(Reporting by David Kirton and Joyce Zhou in Shenzhen, China;
Writing by Se Young Lee and Gerry Doyle; Editing by Raju
Gopalakrishnan and Alex Richardson)
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