Opinion | NBA China crisis: why Adam Silver had little choice but to back Rockets’ GM Daryl Morey and infuriate Chinese government
- The Houston GM’s tweet in support of Hong Kong exposes new levels of corporate hypocrisy and political duplicity
- Thursday’s game in Shanghai went ahead as planned, a second game is set for Shenzhen on Saturday
Make a list. Write down all the multinationals doing billions of dollars of business in the mainland that have openly supported freedom of expression in Hong Kong and openly defied China. You won’t need much paper because right now the only name on that list is the NBA.
Two months into his tenure as commissioner in 2014, a fresh-faced Silver imposed one of the most severe punishments ever on an owner when he banned the Los Angeles Clipper’s Donald Sterling for life from the NBA for racist comments recorded from a phone conversation.
“The views of Mr Sterling are deeply offensive and harmful,” he said of his judgment. “Sentiments of this kind are contrary to the principles of inclusion and respect that form the foundation of our diverse, multicultural and multi-ethnic league.”
By issuing such an unwavering edict, the template for political correctness was moulded. Silver continued to double down on that theme when he spoke with CNN in 2018 about how proud he was that social activism was in the NBA’s DNA and “was something that has been passed down over the decades”. He added: “We want NBA players to be multidimensional people and fully participate as citizens. I think in this day and age you really have to stand for something.”
