The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets return home from a China tour in which they unwittingly stood as actors in a geopolitical drama in which neither team was the prime instigator or exacerbated.
Brooklyn defeated the Lakers 91-77 in Shenzhen, at the end of a two-game NBA preseason tour of China that was put in the background by a tweet about Hong Kong posted by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl. Morey.
The league has staged preseason games in China every year since 2017, except for 2011. That was the year the season was shortened by a lockout.
Now it is not clear if the break in the link can be mended to bring the games next year.
“The players went to play and they didn’t want to look bad with those fans who wanted to see them play,” said the executive director of the players’ union, Michele Roberts, in an interview between the two games. “It was not what someone expected, but they were there and ready to play.”
And they played.
Saturday’s display had the same details as Thursday in Shanghai, when Chinese authorities did not allow the teams and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to hold their press conferences inside the arena. There was also no press availability on Saturday, a decision made by the NBA and the teams without consulting with the Chinese. It was not clear whether the government had applied the same restrictions in Shenzhen.
On Weibo, the social network in China, messages were posted asking fans to boycott the match, but that did not materialize. Many fans came to the Shenzhen arena wearing jerseys, some covering the NBA logo in protest.
Wang Yiwei, 24, sported a Cleveland Cavaliers jersey with LeBron James’ name and number on the back. He stamped a Chinese flag over the NBA logo.
“I can’t watch him play in America,” Wang said. “This was the chance of a lifetime to watch this game tonight. The controversy with the NBA occurred before the game and now I have mixed feelings. AP