"It's already been answered," the media officer said. We don’t know the landscape of the situation if a week would’ve went by and a tweet would’ve happened,” James said. NBA players wouldn't have become vulnerable to any loss of Chinese endorsement deals. "I think people need to understand what a tweet or statement can do to others. *follow @ForTheWin: https://www.twitter.com/forthewin I'm not discussing the substance. Beijing has taken a hard stance in response -- just this weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that. But after he’s spent so many years proving why he won’t “shut up and dribble,” as FOX News’s Laura Ingraham once callously said on the air, these comments — coupled with that tweet above — feel hypocritical. ", And now, there's what he said on his most recent The Big Podcast with Shaq. He went on to mockingly say, "Follow your dreams!" James, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers, Hong Kong has been gripped by more than four months of increasingly violent pro-democracy demonstrations, with hostility and. His work has appeared in The Daily Beast, The New York Times, ESPN, HuffPost, VICE, Deadspin, The Guardian, The Outline and more. Here are LeBron's comments in full: pic.twitter.com/Rwjnchm2w3, James clarified his comments on Twitter as well, reiterating that he wasn't talking about supporting the protesters or not, but rather the timing of Morey's statement of support, which was made while the teams were en route to China. What’s more, they seem to feel that his unwillingness to speak about the Hong Kong protesters voids all of his prior advocacy efforts, the school he built in Akron, the spotlight he’s brought on police brutality and state-sanctioned violence and his lobbying for greater gun control, according to those critics. Could have waited a week to send it.". aMany companies and brands have become caught in the crossfire. He has spoken out in recent years when police officers have killed unarmed black men. ESPN reported, in paraphrase, that he said. *visit For The Win: https://www.ftw.usatoday.com "I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the tweet," he wrote. The NBA faced both of these last week as it tried to navigate the controversy. Are LeBron and the rest of the NBA right to bow to China? He added that it had been "a difficult week" for the Lakers and the NBA. Nonetheless, James did not share support for the Hong Kong protesters, or question China’s human-rights record. Protesters at a … Why would this fall on the players to address?" Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report. When CNN's Christina Macfarlane tried to ask Rockets players James Harden and Russell Westbrook about the NBA's position with China. Putting the focus on James also allows the NBA off the hook. Hong Kong protesters either defaced or burned James’ jerseys. aMany companies and brands have become caught in the crossfire. See, the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals this year, in a season that was made totally strange by the outbreak of COVID-19 globally. The rift, and the NBA's rapid attempts to salvage its massive Chinese market, have sparked broader questions about the influence of China on free speech in corporate America. He’s been remarkable with that throughout his career speaking up at the right times when it’s necessary and not doing so when it’s not,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel said. So now is a really good time to do a mock draft, with a lot of uncertainty about who the top pick could be -- more than in past years -- and how the whole first round will shake out. Oct. 4 tweet of support for protesters in Hong Kong, reportedly told NBA commissioner Adam Silver, NBA's Hong Kong flare-up overlooks deep U.S. investment in China, Westerners requiring a full history of the Qing Dynasty, Brooklyn Nets owner and Taiwan-born Alibaba founder Joe Tsai, This is the inevitable consequence of the NBA staking its future on China, taken up the mantle of progressive issues, Hong Kong's protests against China show the U.S. has failed to reform Beijing. But when there’s a star of this caliber who has spent a career pushing for his fellow athletes to not stay silent, it’s a disappointment. James essentially tells Morey, a general manager known for his intelligence, to shut up and not tweet, even though Morey’s original tweet was clearly sent as the NBA was set to play games in Asia as a way of shining light on the story. James has already put himself in a tough position because of his stance. The protest movement has been driven by persistent fears that those freedoms are now being slowly eroded, as China encroaches on the city's autonomy. “I’m playing the game the right way with my teammates, being a model citizen in the community, being a respectful son, respectful husband, respectful dad and understanding that every time I leave the house, that it is so much bigger than just myself personally.”. And that shouldn’t always be the case. ), LeBron James speaks for the first time since the NBA's trip to China, says Rockets GM Daryl Morey was "misinformed" about the ramifications of his tweet, and "not educated about the situation." Edwards isn’t having it: “That’s not just disingenuous, it's degenerate,” he said. The next day, all 11 of the NBA's official Chinese partners suspended ties. (ESPN reported earlier Tuesday that James and others had lost lucrative endorsement deals and appearances as part of the fallout. “Either way, LeBron was going to be attacked by the ‘shut up and dribble’ crowd,” Edwards said. LeBron James reacts during a preseason game at the 2019 NBA Global Games China on Oct. 12, in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. David West, who played 15 years in the NBA and currently serves as chief operating officer of the Historical Basketball League, agreed. ", "I don't want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand and he spoke. The next day, all 11 of the NBA's official Chinese partners suspended ties. He just made his 15th trip to China after making annual visits with Nike to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzen, Shanghai, Wuhan and Xi’an to promote both his shoe and the game. "I just think that when you're misinformed or you're not educated about something -- and I'm just talking about the tweet itself -- you never know the ramifications that can happen. But the NBA's response drew widespread and scathing bipartism criticism in the United States, and the NBA issued a stronger-worded statement emphasizing freedom of expression in an attempt at damage control. On Tuesday evening, James said it was his belief that Morey was “either misinformed or not really educated on the situation” with the NBA and China and insisted that the Rockets general manager hadn’t properly considered the repercussions of his words. Speaking to reporters before a game in Los Angeles Monday, James called it "a very delicate situation, When asked whether Morey should be reprimanded for his tweet, James responded, "I think when we all sit back and learn from the situation that happened, understand that what you could tweet or could say, and we all talk about this freedom of speech -- yes, we do all have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you're not thinking about others and you're only thinking about yourself. I’m not saying at this particular time but if you don’t feel like you should speak on things, you shouldn’t have to.”. After Daryl Morey Tweet Backlash, LeBron James Says Executive Was Misinformed on China The Lakers star said the Houston Rockets executive could … In recent weeks demonstrators have burned Chinese flags, spray painted "Hong Kong is not China" across the city, and even attacked Chinese owned-businesses. In a tweet later Monday night, James clarified that he meant Morey wasn't educated on the repercussions of the Hong Kong tweet, rather than the situation on the ground. And I believe nobody stopped and considered what would happen. Those tensions reemerged with James’ comments. For more great sports stories ... But targeting James and accusing him, personally, of suborning a communist dictatorship for his inartful comments is misplaced at best — an attempt to score cheap culture war points while letting the NBA itself off the hook, according to Dr. Harry Edwards, a renowned social justice activist and professor of sociology who has served as an adviser to Colin Kaepernick, Muhammad Ali, John Carlos and Tommie Smith. There was the Hall of Famer posting Howard getting roasted on Wild 'N Out that Howard responded to. And I believe nobody stopped and considered what would happen. “I felt that I’ve tried to heal things throughout my whole life by just being who I am and playing the game that I love, playing it at a high level and that has brought a lot of people together,” said James, who formed a family foundation in 2004 and helped launch a public elementary school for at-risk children in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, last year. Macfarlane responded, to which Harden stayed silent. James?" Updated 2020 GMT (0420 HKT) October 15, 2019, (CNN)LeBron James has long spoken out on social justice issues, such as in his advocacy for the Black Lives Matter movement, his criticism of President Trump as a "bum" and his push to be "more than an athlete.". NBA, players have plenty to lose, OPINION: LeBron undermines values he's espoused, OPINION: LeBron's stance on China weakens his voice. Others can talk about that.". Others can talk About that. *like FTW on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/usatodayftw. So just be careful what we tweet and what we say and what we do, even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that too.". But the NBA's response drew widespread and scathing bipartism criticism in the United States, and the NBA issued a stronger-worded statement emphasizing freedom of expression in an attempt at damage control. Please submit a letter to the editor. Sign up for the For The Win newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning. He once may have referred to Howard as "Dwite. But the moment that James returned to the States and opened his mouth, the worries that plagued him in Shanghai proved prescient. "It's already been answered," the media officer said. But we have no idea. We all see what that did -- not only for our league but for all of us in America, for people in China as well," he told reporters on Monday. The tweet set off a firestorm in China almost immediately, with the NBA saying days later that it recognized that Morey's views "have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China… In other words, James does not feel inclined to speak about the Hong Kong protesters’ hope for the semi-autonomous region to be independent of China.

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