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Jonathan White

The Houston Rockets making the play-offs was a headache the NBA could have done without.
Once the most popular in China, the Rockets are now the team who cannot be named and broadcaster Tencent still refuses to show their games.
Will that change if the Rockets go deep?
There are surely people who would rather not find out. The easy option is that the Oklahoma City Thunder win their series, which tips off on Tuesday in the US.

But there are bigger issues ahead for the NBA with China.
Last July, which seems like a lifetime ago, NBA China’s valuation was said to have tipped the US$5 billion mark for the first time, thanks to Tencent’s US$1.5 billion renewal for streaming rights, up from US$500 million for the previous five years.

It was a time of great hope.
The deal was done, cementing China’s value as the league’s biggest market outside the US, and the NBA China Games would touch down in October with the Los Angeles Lakers – led by LeBron James – taking on the Brooklyn Nets in Shanghai and Shenzhen.
“There was an incident, as you may recall, last fall where an NBA general manager tweeted something in support of Hong Kong,” is how NBA commissioner Adam Silver described what happened next in an interview with PBS’s Jody Woodruff last week.


“As a result, we were taken off the air, Chinese Central Television, for the first time in 30 years. And our games are still not back on the air, as a result of our supporting that general manager and supporting, frankly, American values, the values of free speech.”
CCTV has stood firm while several sponsors pulled out, too, with Silver estimating the loss at US$400 million at the All-Star Game in February.
Six months on, the situation might be even worse for the poster boys of US sports leagues expanding into China, who had grown hundreds of millions of fans in 40 years.


While the NBA-China relationship has become increasingly politicised in recent weeks, US President Donald Trump’s decision to ban WeChat stands to make it more complicated.
The Tencent-owned app is a threat to the “national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States”, Trump said.
That makes the NBA’s broadcast deal problematic and US$1.5 billion lost if the deal does not survive, putting that US$400 million figure in the shade. It also makes it difficult for the league, its teams or any other US businesses to operate in China.
Jeremy Lin says China’s CBA players as good as any in NBA
Silver told PBS that they are “listening closely” as to what the league and indeed the US’s relationship with China should be, although he remains hopeful.
“I continue to believe that sports in particular can be a force for change, and that these cultural exchanges are critically important. And so, of course, If we decide not to trade with China, and that becomes something that our government is no longer favouring, we will stop as well.
“But, at least for now, we think continuing to be an exporter of American culture, demonstrating to the Chinese who can still see our games through some streaming services what we are about, what the expression is that comes with the NBA, we think is positive.
Cheating at golf is not Donald Trump’s only sporting foul
“But we are always examining what works best for – not just the NBA – but for our country.”
Casualties in the Sino-US trade war will not be limited to the NBA. China has become ever more important to US sports, from NCAA basketball to Major League Baseball to the US PGA Tour.
The NHL launched its China Games in 2017, ahead of which commissioner Gary Bettman said “the opportunity and the possibilities are limitless”.
Despite everything, ‘Chinese dream’ of next Yao Ming lives on in the West
“China is a priority market for the NFL,” commissioner Roger Goodell said ahead of Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta last year. “We believe that our game has a great deal of potential to expand to grow and bring new fans into our game.”
The NFL mooted a game as early as 2007, though it is still yet to happen. Now, you have to wonder and not just because of Covid-19.
The pandemic offers a very useful mask to dodge difficult questions about preseason games not going ahead, but outside these big ticket events there are plenty of opportunities for relations to sour.

US sports teams and their individual players are engaging in China – often through WeChat – and these could fall foul of escalations elsewhere.
Even sports in the US have been affected. The trade war, which kicked off with US tariffs in 2018, already threatened prices for sporting apparel, equipment, televisions and the things that fans need to tailgate. That was the warning of the US National Retail Federation in 2018.
From shoe deals to the shoes themselves, Chinese money is everywhere in US sports and at every level. It has never been more at risk, with the WeChat ban and ongoing trade war – and the inevitable recriminations. In the current climate it is hard to be hopeful about waiting it out and sport shining through.


The golf-loving president’s executive order coincided with Li Haotong’s remarkable start to the PGA Championship where he became the first Chinese player to lead a men’s major.
He did so while wearing a hat emblazoned with his long-time sponsor WeChat. When asked about Trump’s executive order shutting down the app in the US, Li said, “I don’t know. Who knows?”
Who indeed? As the restarted NBA’s courtside signs say, this is a “whole new game”.


4 luxury watches in NBA star Tyrese Haliburton’s collection: the Olympic gold medallist’s first purchase was a Rolex, but which rare Cartier did he get after signing a record Indiana Pacers deal?

Meet JJ Redick, who’s set to coach father-son duo LeBron and Bronny James at the LA Lakers: the former Orlando Magic and Dallas Mavericks star will get US$8 million per season for his new role

Barack Obama, Michael Jordan lead tributes after death of NBA Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo

NBA: LeBron James reveals ‘pure joy’ at playing with son Bronny as Lakers get set for season

NBA (National Basketball Association)

Tencent: Houston Rockets blackout the least of NBA’s China worries

A basketball court at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex showing the NBA’s marketing motto for the restart of the season: ‘Whole New Game’. Photo: AP

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 07: Haotong Li of China looks on from the 12th tee during the second round of the 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park on August 07, 2020 in San Francisco, California. Tom Pennington/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

In this Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, photo, Brooklyn Nets' Theo Pinson, left, drives against Los Angeles Lakers' Danny Green, right, near a Chinese national flag during a preseason NBA game at the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai, China. When Houston Rocket's general manager Daryl Morey tweeted last week in support of anti-government protests in Hong Kong, everything changed for NBA fans in China. A new chant flooded Chinese sports forums: "I can live without basketball, but I can't live without my motherland." (AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, March 7, 2020, file photo, Houston Rockets guard James Harden passes against the Charlotte Hornets during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Charlotte, N.C. Harden practiced with his teammates for the first time this summer, Thursday, July 16, 2020, after arriving later than most of the Rockets for the season restart at Walt Disney World. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)

From golf to cycling Donald Trump’s history with sport is tale of cheating, failure and feuds

US president Donald Trump shows off his form at his golf course in Jupiter, Florida. Photo: AP

President Donald Trump speaks during a briefing with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and Los Angeles 2028 organizers, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump ride in the Presidential limousine as they take a pace lap ahead of the start of the Daytona 500 Nascar race at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, February 16, 2020. - They made a complete lap - a first with the full fleet of racing cars, according to a top NASCAR official. President Trump crossed the finish line. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / POOL / AFP)

President Donald Trump looks on as Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White speaks during a campaign rally at The Broadmoor World Arena, Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, in Colorado Springs, Colo. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Former NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the President Donald Trump run competing Super Bowl ads. Poking fun at the stature of the former New York City mayor, who is 5 feet, 8 inches, Trump stated falsely that the Democratic White House hopeful wants party leaders to let him stand on a box should he qualify for a presidential debate. (Robert Sam/New York Daily News/TNS)

FILE PHOTO: U.S. property magnate Donald Trump practices his swing at the 13th tee of his new Trump International Golf Links course on the Menie Estate near Aberdeen, Scotland June 20, 2011. REUTERS/David Moir/File Photo

FILE - In this April 1, 2007, file photo, Donald Trump, left, and Bobby Lashley, right shave the head of Vince McMahon after Lashley defeated Umaga at Wrestlemania 23 at Ford Field in Detroit. Lashley is no Brock Lesnar. But the TNA Wrestling heavyweight champion hopes his shift to Bellator can give a boost to both second-tier promotions. Lashley has one of the featured bouts on Friday night when Bellator goes head-to-head on national TV vs. UFC. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio, File)

NBA-China crisis: Adam Silver hopes for ‘mutual respect’ amid questions from US senator

A worker removes a promotional banner for the NBA China Games in Shanghai in October, 2019. The preseason game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers was played amid controversy. Photo: AFP

NBA-China crisis reaches jersey names ahead of league restart

A fan wears a LeBron James jersey with an NBA logo covered by a Chinese national flag sticker during their preseason game in Shanghai in October, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Sport

China

Basketball

President Donald Trump’s executive order banning Tencent-owned WeChat puts future of US$1.5 billion streaming deal in spotlight
Ongoing trade war and political recriminations stand to affect US major leagues beyond CCTV refusing to screen the NBA


President Donald Trump’s executive order banning Tencent-owned WeChat puts future of US$1.5 billion streaming deal in spotlight.


US-China relations

WeChat

NFL (National Football League)

PGA Championship

James Harden

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Opinion

Opinion | Tencent: Houston Rockets blackout the least of NBA’s China worries

President Donald Trump’s executive order banning Tencent-owned WeChat puts future of US$1.5 billion streaming deal in spotlight Ongoing trade war and political recriminations stand to affect US major leagues beyond CCTV refusing to screen the NBA

President Donald Trump’s executive order banning Tencent-owned WeChat puts future of US$1.5 billion streaming deal in spotlight

Ongoing trade war and political recriminations stand to affect US major leagues beyond CCTV refusing to screen the NBA