Schmuck of the Week: Context for the Hong Kong-China situation

So this is an absolute nightmare to talk about. No one is right. No one is wrong. 

But somehow, everything is in flames — especially the jersey of LeBron James. How did we get here?

Instead of dishing out the typical schmuck of the week label, I will carefully dance around assigning a tag until the very conclusion of the column. Why? Well, the problem is quite rooted on an individual level. 

There’s also a chance that you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about right now. Fair, I’ve been pretty cryptic. Let’s dive in:

Daryl Morey, the analytics savvy general manager of the Houston Rockets, sent a seemingly innocuous tweet reading, “Fight for Freedom, Justice for Hong Kong.” But what exactly is happening in Hong Kong? 

The protests are very challenging to summarize, but BBC explains how “until 1997, Hong Kong was a British colony - meaning it was controlled by Britain. Since returning to Chinese rule, it has more autonomy than the mainland, and its people more rights. The arrangement is known as ‘one country, two systems’ ... clashes between police and activists have become increasingly violent, with police firing live bullets and protesters attacking officers and throwing petrol bomb … [this started] in June against proposals to allow extradition to mainland China.”

The NBA, meanwhile, has a large vested interest in China. According to  CNN, China makes up 10% of the NBA’s revenue, which ESPN projected to be worth around 5 billion dollars (nothing to sneeze at). Let’s keep moving: Morey deletes his tweet, the Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta apologizes and says the Rockets aren’t a political organization, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver asserts that NBA players and employees maintain the right to free speech. 

It bites deeper: the head of the Chinese Basketball Association is former NBA superstar Yao Ming, who coincidentally starred for the Houston Rockets. Not good. CCTV (China’s state-sponsored TV) said that they “believe any remarks that challenge national sovereignty and social stability do not belong to the category of free speech.” Gulp. The Lakers and Nets had two scheduled preseason games in the country — they were removed from air on CCTV. Oh no.

And who plays for the Lakers? Why, the NBA’s most globally recognizable figure, of course, LeBron James. James has a vested interest in China too, and with his 1-billion-dollar-lifetime-contractwith Nike, he needs to keep the billion-plus people in the country interested in his products. China supplies Nike with 17% of its total revenue. 

So, we have an authoritarian regime (mind you, one that doesn’t even allow its inhabitants to use Twitter) angry at the NBA (and one side of a conflicting report suggested that China told Silver to fire Morey) for the singular tweet of one executive.

The U.S., however, does this free-speech thing.

And then the final bombshell: LeBron James, talking to media for the first time 10 days after Morey's tweet, said the GM "wasn't educated on the situation at hand and he spoke." (James later tweeted he meant educated on the ramifications.) 

And now, his jersey burns in the streets of Hong Kong. But is LeBron the one worthy of all the slander?