China is the NBA’s biggest market worldwide. And the Washington Wizards have hosted the Guangzhou Loong Lions (previously the Long Lions) for three consecutive years. The Wizards won 137-98, but it came in the midst of an international controversy involving the NBA and China.
Though this story was big around the NBA, we didn’t cover it here since it didn’t affect the Wizards right away last weekend like it did for the Rockets. So here is a very abbreviated gist of what happened between the NBA, one of its teams and China.
Last Saturday, Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for Hong Kong, an autonomous region of mainland China.