The “wokest professional sports league” harshly disappointed its fans this week. But the letdown was inevitable
Somewhere last weekend, Roger Goodell, the NFL’s ruddy, perpetually beleaguered commissioner, surely savored the opportunity to enjoy a rare moment ofat another league’s expense. Adam Silver, Goodell’s counterpart in the NBA, was forced into frantic damage control afterfrom the Houston Rockets’ general manager voiced support for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests, infuriating the league’s deep-pocketed Chinese partners.
Suddenly, the tables were turned: The NBA, a new-media darling for its social justice advocacy, played the soulless corporate spin machine, while the NFL enjoyed ever-massive , continuing its quiet getaway from the years of bad press incurred by its crackdown on the Colin Kaepernick-inspired national anthem protests.For those unaware of the controversy currently roiling professional basketball, last Friday, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted an image bearing the message “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”
Had the message come from the manager of a different NBA team, it might have gone unnoticed. But the Rockets have singular importance in China. Yao Ming, by far the most famous and statistically prolific Chinese national to ever play the game, spent his entire career with Houston, and his success fueled the growth of China’s robust basketball infrastructure, which has come to include deep financial ties to the NBA, a devoted fan base and a thriving professional league of its own.
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