Opinion | NBA’s China problem lingers as Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers set for preseason game in Shanghai

From the moment the Nets and Lakers touched down in the Chinese city, confusion has been the only thoroughfare right until game day

Wednesday concluded with an impromptu press conference axed as media stood around confused in the lobby of the Ritz-Carlton hotel

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A worker strips off a giant poster promoting the NBA preseason game in Shanghai. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 9:57am, 10 Oct 2019Updated: 12:14pm, 10 Oct 2019

Anyone following this story knows how we got here. Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted his apparent support for Hong Kong protesters last week, creating an ever-growing storm of controversy that has the NBA trying to navigate out of an incredibly unfortunate debacle with the Chinese government.

Sponsors, television stations and the Chinese Basketball Association have got involved and where we sit is in the middle of a perplexing quagmire. Here on the ground in Shanghai, confusion reigns as media and fans scramble to make sense of this controversy.

It all started on Tuesday morning. Hours before a scheduled NBA Cares event at the New World Experimental Primary School in Pudong, accredited media outlets got calls from NBA China representatives and a cryptic email that stated the event was cancelled.

The Brooklyn Nets, who were supposed to be at the event, are in Shanghai along with the Los Angeles Lakers, but as this whirlwind keeps spinning, no actual events open to the general public or press have materialised in more than 48 hours.

It wasn’t until later in the day that NBA China confirmed the primary school event with the Nets was actually cancelled by the Chinese government, but they would not confirm what specific government branch that was.