Report: LeBron James, Lakers Players Faced Canceled Appearances, Lost $1M

LeBron James said Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey wrote his tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters because he was uneducated on the issue. Dave McMenamin also reported that LeBron was among the players to push NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to punish Morey for his move. Well, LeBron’s comments didn’t sit well with some folks, and some players are facing serious financial consequences.

The NBA and its players are making important financial decisions as China reacted to Morey’s support for Hong Kong protesters in their struggle against the Communist China regime. They faced serious backlash for prioritizing financial interests over the human right problem in Hong Kong and Morey’s right for free speech.

McMenamin reported that LeBron faced serious business consequences as soon as he arrived in China.

“A lot of individual appearances got canceled so it kept us even closer,” LeBron said of the Lakers. “It allowed guys not to be able to go on their own and obviously, yes, a lot of people had some business to take care of while they were over there, too, business on basketball, but with the cancellation of so many different events and so many different appearances it allowed us to be together, all of us, just our whole team.”

McMenamin added that LeBron planned to use the trip to deal with his business. Two of the events were linked with Nike and Beats by Dre. But, this didn’t happen. Nike sales were surging in China prior to Morey’s tweet. LeBron’s contract with Nike is valued at $1 billion.

Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo had their events cancelled. One unnamed player lost a $1 million deal as a result of the NBA’s problem with China.

Things may easily get out of control and neither side wants that. China is really important for the league, and the NBA is important for the Chinese market. Let’s see what happens in the next few days. Things are getting really hot, and many athletes have addressed the real problem with Morey and his tweet. Hong Kong protesters have burned LeBron’s jerseys, and that’s in no way good.