From ESPN. LeBron just keeps digging that hole deeper:https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id...on-james-adam-silver-make-break-moments-china "Silver opened the floor. James raised his hand. His question was related to Morey -- and the commissioner's handling of the Rockets' GM. James, to paraphrase, told Silver that he knew that if a player caused the same type of uproar with something he said or tweeted, the player wouldn't be able to skate on it. There would be some type of repercussion. So, James wanted to know, what was Silver going to do about it in Morey's case? Silver pushed back, reminding the players that the league never doled out discipline when they publicly criticized President Donald Trump. Morey was exercising the same liberty when he challenged China. Regardless of the financial fallout of one versus the other, that's not what should matter. Silver might have disliked the ramifications of Morey's tweet, but he would defend the right to say it."
The thing is that it does matter significantly to the bottom line. In a perfect world it wouldn't matter and the players, owners and coaches could all speak freely about political matters off the court and out of uniform, but in the real world the NBA exists to make money and they are going to do what is necessary to keep making money. Speech for and against Trump probably doesn't move the profit needle that much one way or the other. China shutting off all imports of NBA merchandise and broadcasting does.
Once again LeBron is demonstrating his world class level of business acumen. Freedom of speech but only when it aligns with my own agenda and lines my own pockets. Morality for sale, just write a large check. liberal selective outrage is awesome.
