• LeBron James Changed His Mind On NBA Boycott. James Woods: 'His China H

    From Ubiquitous@21:1/5 to All on Sat Aug 29 04:54:40 2020
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.non.racism
    XPost: alt.sports.basketball.nba

    On Wednesday, reports surfaced that the Los Angeles Lakers, led by
    LeBron James, were going to boycott the rest of the NBA playoffs to
    protest racial inequality and police brutality, but on Thursday, a
    sudden change occurred, as reports indicated James and co. decided to
    keep playing instead.

    Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports reported on Thursday night:

    Ever since the league suspended play on March 11 due to the
    coronavirus, James had been an advocate for resuming play if
    proper health and safety protocols allowed for it. But in
    Wednesday’s meeting, players began seeing a shift in his
    position when he agreed to go with whatever the majority
    decided, sources said.

    With emotions all over the place, Haslem pressed James and
    asked the star what he planned to do, reminding him that he’s
    the face of the league and it goes as he goes, sources said.
    James then said, “We’re out,” and walked out with almost all
    of his teammates following behind, sources said, wit Howard
    being the only Laker who remained.

    Haynes noted that on Thursday, the NBA players met again, this time
    deciding to continue the season.

    The quick reversal of plans triggered actor James Woods to offer one
    possible reason for James’ apparent shift, as he tweeted, “His China
    handlers didn’t like the optics?”

    https://twitter.com/RealJamesWoods/status/1299356993061179394

    Woods’ reference to China and James revolves around the fact that
    James’ initial comments after Houston Rockets general manager Daryl
    Morey supporting pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong were highly
    critical.

    “We all talk about this freedom of speech — yes, we all do have freedom
    of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that
    can happen when you’re not thinking about others and only thinking
    about yourself,” said James. “I don’t want to get into a word or
    sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand,” adding later, “So many people could have been
    harmed not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually.”

    After Morey’s comment, ESPN wrote, “The issue of China’s sovereignty
    had been drilled into Team USA players who traveled to China for the
    FIBA World Cup just weeks before. One player from USA Basketball told
    ESPN that he ‘couldn’t believe’ Morey would take on the issue with a
    tweet after the way Team USA was warned about its complications.”

    Sports Illustrated noted the intimate connection between China and the
    NBA, writing, “The league has a $1.5 billion contract with Chinese tech
    giant Tencent as well as relationships with China’s CCTV Sports
    Channel, the smartphone company Vivo and other Chinese companies. These
    deals could eventually provide the NBA with billions of dollars in revenue—dollars that, under the collective bargaining agreement, would
    be shared with NBA players through higher salary caps and higher player salaries.”

    Fox Business reported of James and China, “He holds a lifetime deal
    valued at $1 billion with sports retail giant Nike, which saw its sales
    in China surge 27 percent to nearly $1.7 billion in its most recent
    fiscal quarter alone. James’ signature sneaker line is one of Nike’s
    most prominent offerings.”


    --
    "It took a worldwide pandemic. It took a 35% plunge in the stock
    market. It took quarantining. It took many small businesses closing. It
    took canceling practically everything, to bring the USA economy back to
    the Obama high mark."

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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