Silver insists the NBA supports free speech following criticism from US politicians.
It came right before the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets arrived in China for what proved to be a tense two-game exhibition tour, with broadcasters there refusing to air the games, public protests against Morey’s comments and local sponsors cutting ties with the NBA. “We were being asked to fire him by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business,” Silver said during a panel discussion in New York.But the NBA chief said the dispute over Morey’s actions had taken a big toll on the league’s bottom line.
Silver hit back at criticism of the NBA’s early statements on the crisis, which many saw as overly deferential to Beijing. Basketball superstar LeBron James, who traveled to China with the Lakers for the exhibition games, this week said Morey “wasn’t educated” on the situation and suggested the Rockets executive should have kept his mouth shut.“The values of the NBA – the American values, we are an American business – travel with us wherever we go,” he said. “And one of those values is free expression.”
“But if people believe we shouldn’t be engaged in commerce in China … I look to the American government.”
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