NBA event set - concern for the big matches

The NBA wants to expand even more into the Chinese market and this week it is thought that the league's big star LeBron James Los Angeles Lakers will face the Brooklyn Nets in two training matches in Shanghai and Shenzhen respectively.

But, according to the New York Times, concern is growing that Chinese authorities should suspend both matches scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, and Saturday.

The reason is the infected rift between the American Basketball League and the country of China that has occurred since Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey commented on Twitter in support of the protesters in Hong Kong.

"Fight for freedom. Back up Hong Kong, ”Morey wrote in a tweet that was later removed, but still created enormous consequences.

Today, Wednesday, a supporter event would have been held in Shanghai, the port city of eastern China, the day before the first training game between the Lakers and the Nets. But the event has been canceled because of Morey's "inappropriate comments", according to a statement from Shanghai's sports ministry that the AFP news agency took note of.

The NBA, for its part, has taken Morey's side to the conflict.

- The league will not put itself in a position where you regulate what players, employees and club owners say and do not say on these issues. "We can't work that way," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said at a press conference Tuesday.

It has already become clear that China's largest television company CCTV will not broadcast this week's scheduled big matches, according to the Los Angeles Times. In addition, the host city of Shenzhen is located right on the border with Hong Kong, a special administrative region with separate legal system, in southern China.