NBA China crisis: basketball in China may become a distant memory as Sino-American relations continue to sour
- The NBA is trying to salvage its 2020-21 season and most likely will not send its players overseas anytime soon
- Trump’s potential re-election this November could signal four more years of frosty Chinese-American relations
After we emerge from this global pandemic, some collective truths will surely become self-evident.
Companies will no longer be able to tell employees working from home is not feasible. Corporations will expect bailouts – while individuals will be expected to fend for themselves – during tough economic times. Health care is a human right, not a privilege. Universal basic income is no longer a fringe political issue the mainstream can dismiss. Global problems require globalised solutions. We just just failed the first test, miserably.
The post-coronavirus landscape, from macroeconomics and international relations right down to handshakes and handwashing, will forever be changed. We have set off on an altered course as a society, violently veering into new, uncharted territories.
There’s a lot of bold predictions being thrown into the stratosphere, and here’s another one: I think the NBA’s love affair with China is over.
First order of business in the coming weeks for the NBA is figuring out whether the 2019-20 season is even salvageable. Much like the NHL, it was an abrupt midseason slash, and now we are upon the date (April 18) when the play-offs should have started.
If the NBA does continue, most likely in one city and behind closed doors, it will invariably bleed into the 2020-21 season, which is expected to start in late October. There are rumours league officials are looking at Las Vegas or even the Bahamas to resume play.
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You don’t need a PhD in geopolitical relations to summarise there is no possible chance NBA commissioner Adam Silver allows his players to leave the continental United States before the year’s end, which means any preseason games in foreign countries are off the table, out the window and straight into the trash.
This brings us to preseason for the 2021-22 season, and in case you forgot, the NBA and China did not end 2019 on good terms. Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s pro Hong Kong democracy tweet set off an international crisis as the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets found themselves squarely in the middle of a diplomatic mess while in Shanghai.
Before Covid-19, the NBA and China had reached a rather messy stalemate. Silver stood by his players and owners, stating they had the right to free speech. The Chinese Communist Party retaliated by pulling games from CCTV and wiping the Rockets from Tencent, while LeBron James put his foot in his mouth and became public enemy number one in Hong Kong for a brief moment.
When things get back to normal, these issues, which have now festered, still need to be resolved one way or another if this relationship is to be rekindled.
There is also the current state of Sino-American relations. A rough trade war had battered both countries as US president Donald Trump promptly set out after his election to stand up to what he believes is a global economic bully. The Chinese have responded in kind and trade deals are still being hammered out. The end feels like it remains over a distant horizon.
Trump will most likely win the 2020 US presidential election. Joe Biden’s inevitable nomination as the Democratic candidate has fractured the left, again, much like when Hillary Clinton snatched the nomination in 2016 and many of Bernie Sanders’ supporters stayed home in protest of the party’s inability to validate their concerns.
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In 2020 it will likely be a case of déjà vu, and even with Elizabeth Warren as Biden’s running mate (which seems most likely) hoping to unite the party, it looks like a lost cause. Therefore, four more years of Trump, and four years of Trump knowing he only has four years left as president will surely inflame China-US relations rather than douse them.
The NBA falls under the general ideals of American life, morals and ethics. Personal freedom supersedes every other right and freedom of speech is right atop the list. China relies on censoring its citizens, crafting propaganda narratives and silencing critics internally, and as best it can, externally.
Silver’s number one priority over the next few years is going to have to be the safety of the league’s players. Sending them overseas to try to rebuild shaky international bridges is going to have to take a back seat, and possibly get thrown off the truck altogether.
There are 30 franchises across two countries in North America, all of whom have hundreds of staff members, along with the NBA’s own personnel, that need to be taken care of before anything else.
China was once seen as the land of golden opportunity for the NBA to fully globalise its audience. A staggering 500 million fans across the world’s most populous nation swarming stores for James’ Lakers jersey and staying up late to watch games on television and online.
This is all now a distant memory, a time not so long ago, but one that increasingly feels forgotten and forever stuck in the past. The NBA and China have broken up, and getting back together would require a miracle this world seems incapable of producing right now.
