When it comes to social justice, the NBA is filled with activists. When it comes to China, criticism is nowhere to be found.
Over the weekend, NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski was suspended by ESPN for emailing “f— you” to Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri after Hawley sent an open letter criticizing NBA commissioner Adam Silver for the league’s warm relationship with China.
While complaints about President Trump are commonplace from NBA stars such as LeBron James, Steph Curry, and Kevin Durant, as well as coaches Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich, similar complaints are nonexistent about China, which some would argue is the United States’s top geopolitical adversary.
Last year, this posture received much attention when the NBA put out an apology of sorts in response to Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeting an image that read, “Fight for Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” Morey also apologized.
So, what’s so great about China to the NBA? Follow the money. The NBA is afraid that if it doesn’t kowtow to the Chinese Communist Party, it will lose out big on revenue.
Although China is an authoritarian regime, the NBA has been allowed access to the Chinese market and wants to grow its fan base there. The volume is there: Over 1 billion people live in China. The NBA’s website acknowledged that in the 2018-2019 season, more than 500 million people in the country watched an NBA game. Those are people who can buy merchandise.
The NBA already has a five-year, $1.5 billion streaming contract with the Chinese media company Tencent. However, since Morey’s tweet, the state-run CCTV stopped showing NBA games and has no intention of bringing them back, according to ESPN. Additionally, Tencent does not air Houston Rockets games. As of 2018, the NBA’s total business in China was valued at more than $5 billion, according to NBC News. If the NBA stays on good terms with China, that number could continue to rise.
Of course, there’s a significant cost to it all. The league will likely continue to ignore how China floods our country with job-destroying counterfeit goods, the country’s role in the opioid epidemic, its rampant IP theft, its inhumane working conditions, its Nazi-like treatment of the Uighurs, and the oppression of Hong Kong, Tibet, and Taiwan.
None of that really matters to the NBA, though. The league sticks a “Black Lives Matter” patch on jerseys and then keeps its mouth shut about Chinese transgressions to rake in the money. To many, that might seem like a contradiction, but to the NBA, it makes for good business.
Tom Joyce (@TomJoyceSports) is a freelance writer who has been published with USA Today, the Boston Globe, Newsday, ESPN, the Detroit Free Press, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Federalist, and a number of other media outlets.
