Representative for LeBron James denies NBA star wrote for Chinese state newspaper
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Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has recently wrapped up visits to Shanghai and Chengdu as part of his Nike tour of Asia.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – China’s state-run People’s Daily newspaper on Sept 8 published an essay about Chinese basketball that it said was written by LeBron James, but a representative for the NBA star said on Sept 11 that the article was based on a series of interviews.
The paper, better known as the mouthpiece of China’s ruling Communist Party, had said that James authored the Sept 8 essay “Basketball is a Bridge that Connects Us”, a tribute to Chinese players and fans of the sport written in the first person perspective.
“LeBron James Pens an Article in the People’s Daily,” read a post published on the newspaper’s official WeChat account of the Los Angeles Lakers star.
But on Sept 11, a representative for the four-time NBA champion said that James did not write the article and that it was instead based on a “series of interviews” the 40-year-old did in China that were “transcribed and put on the People’s Daily website”.
The newspaper did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside business hours.
James, who is entering a record-breaking 23rd season in the top-flight North American league, has visited China 15 times. The essay was published as he concluded visits to Shanghai and Chengdu during a tour marking the 20th anniversary of his first Nike Asia tour.
The NBA enjoyed decades of fast growth in China, where some 300 million play the game, ballooning into a business said to be worth more than US$4 billion (S$5.1 billion).
The league was one of the most popular US cultural exports to China until 2019 when Daryl Morey, then Houston Rockets general manager, tweeted support for Hong Kong anti-government protesters.
The fallout was swift. China’s state broadcaster CCTV stopped showing NBA games for 28 months, local sponsors cut ties, and Rockets merchandise vanished from stores. NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in 2022 that losses amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars.
Six years later, despite renewed US-China trade tensions, the NBA’s relationship with its most important overseas market has much improved. In recent years, CCTV has gradually resumed broadcasting NBA games and Chinese companies have signed new league deals.
Initially, it was suggested that James authoring a People’s Daily piece signalled the NBA’s years-long row with Beijing could be ending. While that may be true, James did not actually pen the article himself.
The NBA is also preparing for two pre-season games in Macau next month, the first time since 2019 that NBA teams will play on Chinese soil. REUTERS
