The NBA Continues To Cozy Up To China

From voting rights to Black Lives Matters, the COVID vaccine, and policing in America, the NBA has been at the center of it all. Yet, despite all of that, they have had a close and comfortable relationship with a foreign government that actively works against everything the NBA stands for.

China and the NBA want to work together and have fostered a mostly confidential relationship that has earned both sides billions. Despite the authoritarian government of China, NBA owners have about $10 billion invested in Chinese companies, according to a New York-based firm named Strategy Risks. And that is just one of the many ways that these two parties have become strange – and very rich – bedfellows.

This has been one of the league’s dirtiest little secrets, especially recently as China has become increasingly intolerant of anyone who stands in the face of the government.

In 2019, Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey created a firestorm when he spoke out in favor of Hong Kong protestors who were pushing back against a brutal crackdown by the Chinese government. “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong,” was the simple tweet that Morey published, then quickly deleted. But even though he erased that message, the damage had been done. In a short amount of time, China pulled all NBA games off its state-run networks, and tensions between China and the league reached an all-time high.

This is another example of the rather close relationship that the league has with Chinese authorities. There is an obvious reason why the NBA is attempting to stay on good terms with red China and it all comes down to the green: cold-hard cash. China is the second-biggest economy in the world, a nation of more than a billion, and a massive business opportunity.

Since taking over the NBA, Commissioner Adam Silver has focused on expanding the league and turning basketball into a global sport. In many ways, he has followed through on that goal and found great success. There are now multiple international stars who are running the league. In fact, the last five MVP trophies have been awarded to foreign-born ballers. The NBA has grown and is now popular in every corner of the globe.

And while Silver and the league definitely want to inspire young players to pursue their dreams in hopes of becoming the next Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nikola Jokic, or Joel Embiid, they also want to make money – and lots of it. That’s where China comes into the picture. The money that can be made in such a huge market is worth any sort of controversy or towing any governmental line. A league like the NBA won’t make any headway in that nation without being chummy with the authoritative government running it. Therefore they have been trying to play nice and not ruffle any feathers with Chinese powers.

That led to Morey deleting his tweet and most of the league staying mostly silent about the Hong Kong protests. Well, mostly silent. Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai, who was born in Taiwan and is a naturalized citizen of China, actually spoke out in support of the government. “The large number of the population – I’m talking about 80-90% of the population – are very, very happy for the fact that their lives are improving every year,” Tsai said about China.

For the last few years, the NBA has remained suspiciously quiet when it comes to all matters related to China. And that has paid off. In May of 2022, just before the playoffs, NBA games quietly returned to state-run TV in China, showing that both sides were once again working together, at least for now.