The NBA’s relationship with China has been going downhill fast since Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s tweet about standing with Hong Kong in the midst of their democracy protests against China. Yesterday, we saw a basketball gym in Shangai take down paintings of the Rockets’ logo, along with ones of Tracy McGrady and James Harden.
The Lakers and Nets were supposed to play a preseason game in Shanghai tomorrow but that might not happen now. Today, a huge poster on a building promoting the game was taken down. It featured LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, and other Nets. A G-League game has already been canceled.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver flew to China yesterday to try to fix this issue and repair the league’s relationship with the country but it will be very hard to do so. Preseason games are already not being aired in China for now. Flip the pages to check out the Lakers-Nets game posters being taken down, courtesy of TMZ Sports.