The NBA can win a standoff with China

Why Adam Silver and the league have leverage in the Daryl Morey dustup

Adam Silver.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Takashi Aoyama/Getty Images, Nathan Denette/Getty Images, Benjamin_Lion/iStock)

A lot of Americans are not happy with how the National Basketball Association has handled its recent conflict with China. After Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, the Chinese government, businesses, and citizens reacted with fury. Players and owners came out of the woodwork to scold Morey for standing up in defense of classic American values. Journalists, politicians and critics — including yours truly — found the NBA's surrender to China to be be a craven spectacle.

But the NBA arguably has a lot of leverage over China. More to the point, it may be figuring that fact out.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.