The NBA pre-season has started, the season will start soon, but the American public is not talking about the game, but about the basketball-political relations between America and China.
The Chinese authorities banned the broadcast of the games, and announced that they will also ban the game between the Lakers and Brooklyn, which is scheduled for Thursday in Shanghai.
The reason – one tweet from Houston's leader and one sentence from the commissioner of the NBA.
When Houston general manager Daryl Morey posted a picture on his Twitter profile with the caption "Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong" he probably couldn't have guessed what was about to happen.
His message of support for the protesters, who have been protesting the policies of official Beijing for months, was quickly deleted, but the avalanche started.
The apology of the president of Houston, which is one of the most popular NBA franchises in China, was in vain because of Yao Ming - the TV broadcasts of the Rockets matches were canceled.
Tensions were further increased by NBA commissioner Adam Silver, who defended Daryl Morey, and did not condemn his, as Chinese officials stated, interference in China's internal affairs.
"We as an organization are based on values, and we will not apologize to anyone. I want to make it clear that Daryl Morey has our support in terms of the right to freedom of expression," said Silver.
His words caused a new domino-effect – from the cancellation of TV broadcasts, to the cancellation of games in the pre-season.
According to the American media, the game between the Lakers and Brooklyn, which should take place tomorrow in Shanghai, will not take place.
"I recommend everyone to pay attention to the reactions and behavior towards the feelings of the Chinese people. It is not acceptable to seek cooperation with China without understanding the situation China is in," Geng Shunag, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"Here we have a situation where one country defends its sovereignty, and the other considers that its sovereignty is not threatened. The NBA league is now between two fires, and I think that this is just the beginning and that the next period will bring many more situations like this," said Steven Weber , a professor at the University of Berkeley.
China is the NBA's biggest market, basketball is incredibly popular in that country, and NBA games were watched by around 500 million viewers last season.
After the latest events, it remains to be seen how much material and how much non-material damage will be.
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