Silver: NBA, USA Basketball Still May Play in China in 2020
Silver said it’s possible the NBA could lose as much as $400 million in revenue this year because of hits to the China market
By Tim Reynolds ••
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In this Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017, file photo, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver speaks during a news conference in New York.
The NBA and USA Basketball are still considering playing in China later this year, though the complexities of both the political rift caused by a tweet last fall and the ongoing health concerns in the world’s most populous country are making those plans seem decidedly uncertain.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the discussions in both cases — pre-Olympic games for USA Basketball and the preseason games for the NBA — are ongoing, and said the decisions are not necessarily linked. It’s possible the U.S. may play there this summer and the NBA does not send teams this fall, Silver said.
“Those are issues that haven’t been decided yet,” Silver said Saturday night at his annual All-Star weekend news conference.
Things are not back to normal for the league when it comes to relations with China. The strain started Oct. 4, when Houston general manager Daryl Morey tweeted an image that read “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” referencing several months of pro-democracy demonstrations in the semiautonomous Chinese territory.
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The tweet wasn’t up for long. The fallout was massive and continues. A pair of preseason games between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers in China were played days after Morey’s tweet, though without the support of several sponsors and with both teams playing in silence — none of the customary pre- and post-game media availabilities were held. The Chinese Basketball Association suspended its relationship with the Rockets, Chinese media giant Tencent and Chinese state television pulled some NBA broadcasts and Silver said the NBA quickly began experiencing significant financial losses.
Silver said it’s possible the NBA could lose as much as $400 million in revenue this year because of hits to the China market.
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“Our games have not returned to CCTV, the government broadcaster,” Silver said. “My sense is they will at some point in the future. We are not pressing them. It’s a decision that is outside of certainly our control and I’m often not even sure where that decision lies.”
The NBA and Chinese officials have been talking, or at least were talking until much of the Chinese resources were redirected toward dealing with COVID-19, a disease stemming from a new form of coronavirus.
Basketball, understandably, has been pushed aside while the Chinese deal with a massive crisis.
“This game of basketball is a huge game, and I've been blessed and fortunate enough to travel to China a number of times,” All-Star Chris Paul of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who also is president of the National Basketball Players Association, said on Saturday. “A friend of mine, Pooh Jeter, plays over in China, and I actually wrote ‘Wuhan’ on my shoes the other night in a game in New Orleans. (But) this isn't just a Wuhan problem. It's an everyone problem.”
Wuhan is the city at the center of the outbreak. China’s government suspended most access to Wuhan on Jan. 23. Restrictions have expanded to cities with a total of 60 million people in the broadest anti-disease measures ever imposed. Restaurants, shops and other businesses nationwide were ordered to close.
Through Friday, China reported a total of 66,492 cases of the virus, officially saying it was responsible for 1,523 deaths. Japan -- which will play host to this summer’s Tokyo Olympics -- reported about 259 cases through Friday, with one death.
International competitions in at least 14 different sports have been affected by the virus and the resultant concerns. Tokyo Olympic organizers and the International Olympic Committee have insisted that there are no plans to cancel or relocate the games.
“It’s impossible to predict which direction this epidemic will take,” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization.
It also makes it impossible to predict when matters between the NBA and China return to normal.
In other matters Silver addressed Saturday:
KOBE AWARD
Eric Garcetti
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted this photo on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, of Los Angeles City Hall lit in purple and gold “in honor of Kobe Bryant’s storied championship career and in memory of Bryant, his daughter, Gianna, and all who perished in today’s tragedy.”
Pacific Park via AP
This photo provided by Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier shows their Ferris wheel in Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold colors with Kobe Bryant’s No. 24 in honor of the former Lakers star who died with several others in a helicopter crash in Calabasas on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The Empire State Building is illuminated in gold and purple lights to honor the late Lakers legend Kobe Bryant in New York, United States, Jan. 28, 2020. Bryant died Sunday in a helicopter accident along with his 13-year-old daughter and seven other people.
NBCLA
The pylons at LAX are glowing in Lakers colors on a somber morning in Los Angeles Monday Jan. 27, 2020, a day after the death of Kobe Bryant.
AP Photo/Kelvin Kuo
Lights of purple and gold illuminate the pylons outside of LAX in remembrance of former NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, following reports of his death in a helicopter crash in Southern California.
Madeline Kosmala
The InterContinental Hotel, the “tallest” building west of the Mississippi, displayed No. 24, Kobe Bryant’s jersey number, following his untimely death on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020.
Los Angeles County
The fountain at Grand Park LA lit up in purple and gold on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, in honor of Kobe Bryant.
Greg Bennett Jr.
The Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.
Photo by James Devaney/Getty Images
Madison Square Garden pays tribute to Kobe Bryant during Brooklyn Nets v New York Knicks game at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 26, 2020, in New York City.
Madison Square Garden is lit up in Los Angeles Lakers colors in honor of former Laker great Kobe Bryant prior to the game between the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets tonight at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 26, 2020, in New York City.
Sergio Quintana
The Chase Center in San Francisco, home venue for the Golden State Warriors, displayed a photo of Kobe Bryant and lit up in purple and gold in honor of Kobe Bryant.
NBC 5 News
The Los Angeles Lakers colors — purple and gold — lit up the 7th Street Bridge in Fort Worth, Texas, as the nation remembered one of the NBA’s most iconic players on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020.
NBC 5 News
The Pier 1 Imports building in Fort Worth, Texas, paid tribute to Kobe Bryant on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, by illuminating the corporate building in Los Angeles Lakers purple and gold.
NBC Chicago
The United Center, home to the Chicago Bulls, paid homage to NBA legend Kobe Bryant on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2020, following the basketball legend’s untimely death.
Tim Bradbury/Getty Images
Escalators at TD Garden are lit up with Lakers purple to memorialize former NBA star Kobe Bryant on Jan. 27, 2020, in Boston, Massachusetts.
NBCLA
The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles honored Kobe Bryant.
Ronak Patel
The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a Hindu temple complex in Chino Hills, was illuminated in purple and gold to honor Kobe Bryant.
Catalina Island Company
The Catalina Island Company illuminated the iconic Casino with nine alternating purple and gold lights in remembrance of those who passed away in the Jan. 26, 2020, helicopter crash in Calabasas. Purple and gold represent the team colors of the Los Angeles Lakers, whose former star Kobe Bryant was among those lost. The nine lights pay tribute to the eight passengers and pilot, Ara Zobayan, who had deep Catalina connections, and made a significant impact on many residents and visitors during his frequent flights to the island.
The NBA is immediately renaming the All-Star MVP trophy in honor of Kobe Bryant, the 18-time All-Star who — along with his daughter Gianna and seven others — died in a helicopter crash in Southern California last month.
All-Star weekend has taken on a somber tone this year, largely because of multiple tributes for Bryant and NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern, who died Jan. 1.
“I know it will be especially meaningful to that player that wins the first Kobe Bryant MVP,” Silver said. “So I'm sure there will be other honors as well, and as I mentioned, there are other things that we will be discussing with our board, the NBA board, when they meet in April to honor David. But this one seems so appropriate here at All-Star because nobody embodied All-Star more than Kobe Bryant.”
SCHEDULE CHANGES
Silver said he remains optimistic that schedule changes he has wanted — including an in-season tournament — are viable possibilities.
The NBA was targeting adding such a tournament in 2021-22, the league’s 75th anniversary year. But plans for an April vote on such a change were tabled weeks ago, and the timetable is uncertain.
“I may have been a little naive in thinking that for the 75th anniversary, we could say let's make all these changes,” Silver said. “We'll sort of see what happens in the 75th anniversary, and we'll go from there.”
All-Stars polled by The Associated Press earlier Saturday about the potential of schedule changes were largely supportive of the notion, though the majority also said they do not know enough about the plans to have a strong opinion.
“I don’t know. I mean our season is already long,” said Portland guard Damian Lillard, who is missing the All-Star Game with an injury. “I think if we’re playing for something that would count, I can see it being OK, but there’s a price for everything.”
