Celtics Games Are Pulled in China After Enes Kanter’s Pro-Tibet Posts

“It’s unclear whether we’ll be back on CCTV television in China this year,” Adam Silver, the commissioner of the N.B.A., told reporters on Monday, referring to China’s state-run broadcaster. “Our projections are not dependent on it. I will say we’ve been back on Tencent, the streaming service in China, for some time now, and will be when the season starts.”

Geopolitical tensions and rising nationalism have made China a minefield for multinational companies, whose access to the country’s 1.4 billion consumers is often contingent on not taking the “wrong” stance on issues such as Beijing’s rule in Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.

Since Morey’s tweet, there have been a few signs that tensions between the N.B.A. and the Chinese government were thawing. Tencent, after initially stopping N.B.A. broadcasts, resumed airing games soon after the initial furor over Morey’s post began to recede. After Kobe Bryant died in early 2020, Cui Tiankai, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, released a statement paying tribute to the former N.B.A. star, who has a large fan base in China. Later that year, Chinese state-run television aired some finals games between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat.

Silver has been steadfast in saying that he hoped that the rift between the N.B.A. and China would heal, citing cultural benefits. There are also financial benefits for the league, a notion that lawmakers in the United States, particularly conservatives, have attacked the N.B.A. over.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/21/sports/basketball/celtics-kanter-china-tibet.html