Bad call

9 October 2019 By Pete Sweeney Follow @petesweeneypro

State TV won’t screen preseason games in the country after boss Adam Silver backed a manager who supported Hong Kong protesters. The basketball association has put its $4 bln business and partners at risk, but it is pushing back anyway. It can become a rallying point for others.

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China Central Television said on Oct. 8 it wouldn't air National Basketball Association exhibition games played in the country, after a tweet by a Houston Rockets executive backed protests in Hong Kong. He later apologised.

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, in a tweet on Oct. 8, criticised the NBA for choosing its "pocketbook over its principles", after the NBA issued a statement saying it regretted the tweet by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a separate statement that it was not up to the U.S. basketball league to regulate what players, employees and team owners said.

In July the NBA announced a five-year expansion of their existing partnership with Chinese online giant Tencent, the league's largest partner outside the United States.

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