The NBA’s lockout shortened the 2011-12 season, and the five chaotic months that preceded it were certainly stressful for NBA brass. After this year, they couldn’t be blamed for wanting to go back to what now must seem like comparatively minor unpleasantness.
The Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Lakers tip off the NBA Finals tonight, marking the beginning of the end for the NBA’s most chaotic year ever. The season started with the league being forced to reconcile its social justice stance, with its pandering to the ghoulish regime in China, and ended with an extremely political bubble (literally and metaphorically), with television ratings tanking all the way.
Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey started it off in October, tweeting out the message, “Fight for Freedom. Stand for Hong Kong.” The NBA’s proudest social justice voices then covered themselves in glory by playing useful idiots for the Chinese Communist Party. Gregg Popovich said nothing. Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr were suddenly aware of their lack of knowledge. LeBron James took it a step further, declaring those who opposed the Chinese takeover of Hong Kong to be misinformed.
The NBA then signaled the start of lockdowns in the United States, as the league suspended its season when Utah Jazz players tested positive for the virus in March. The league came back at the end of July, keeping players in a “bubble” in Orlando to finish the season. Players also put themselves in a social justice bubble, plastering Black Lives Matter slogans on their jerseys and the Orlando court.
The NBA has been undeterred by its apologia for the CCP. The league has almost completely avoided any serious scrutiny for running basketball camps in China, where athletes were abused by Chinese coaches. The NBA also had a camp in Xinjiang, where the CCP has been placing Uighurs in concentration camps.
Meanwhile, the league’s ratings are spiraling. Ratings suffered their “most precipitous drop” after the league refused to take a stand for Hong Kong. Some 39% of sports fans have said they are watching fewer NBA games, with most citing politics as the reason. NBA ratings are down across the board, including the most recent round of the playoffs.
With the NBA season ending soon, league officials will have some time to figure out how to earn their viewers back. Fortunately, this year has provided them a list of what not to do. The only question now is if they will take it, or if they even want to.
