Every time the NBA-China scandal seems to be fading, another eruption underscores the increasingly difficult tightrope leagues, athletes and media companies walk as they do business with communist China.
Just in the past few days, LeBron James unleashed a furor from fans in both Hong Kong and the U.S. when he described Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey as "misinformed or not really educated" for his seven-word tweet that ignited the initial uproar. Then, NBA commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged his league had lost millions since Morey's tweet and stated that the Chinese government had asked him to fire Morey.