NBA scraps media access to teams in China, as Saturday's game on

SHENZHEN, China—The National Basketball Association said on Friday it won't make the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers available to media for the rest of their China visit, amid a furor over a tweet by a Houston Rockets executive supporting Hong Kong's protesters.

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.

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.

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.

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