The NBA Has Decided To Cut Media Access For The Rest Of China Trip

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The NBA Rolls Back All Media Access for Teams In China

There has been a whole lot of pressure been put on the NBA and its players after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey expressed his support for Hong Kong pro-democracy protestors.

Following this, the Chinese Basketball Association announced their decision to end its cooperation with the Rockets, which then prompted the GM’s backtracking and James Harden to issue an apology. Ever since this initial issue, prominent players throughout the NBA have been repeatedly asked for their thoughts on the whole situation. As a result of the non-stop Hong Kong questioning, the NBA has made the decision to cut media access for the rest of the league’s stay in China.

According to reports from CNN, the league is still hoping to mend its relationship with China. This statement on Friday comes less than a day after a CNN anchor was shut down by a Rockets media officer from asking James Harden and Russell Westbrook a question about the situation going on in Tokyo.

“They [the teams] have been placed into a complicated and unprecedented situation while abroad and we believe it would be unfair to ask them to address these matters in real time,” the statement from the NBA reads. As of now, it’s not clear how long this ban will last or if it will impact any journalists from asking about Hong Kong when players are back on American turf.