Can LeBron James distance himself from his comments on Monday? He says he will, good luck with that.
LeBron James told reporters on Tuesday that he will not discuss the ongoing unrest between the NBA and China and his comments on Daryl Morey according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.
He says, his primary focus is the NBA title.
"“That’s my main goal right now. I feel like I talked about it yesterday. I tweeted out responses to people not understanding my knowledge and where it came from with my brain and learning from the situation. I’m talking about it now. I won’t talk about it again. “I’d be cheating my teammates by continuing to harp on something that won’t benefit us. We’re trying to win a championship. That’s what we’re here for. We’re not politicians. It’s a huge political thing. But we are leaders and we can step up at times. I’m not saying at this particular time, but if you don’t feel like you should speak on things, you shouldn’t have to.”"
That “Revenge Season” that fans and media are hyping up takes on a whole new meaning. LeBron had better bring the goods this year. Controversy has followed him with the NCAA/California bill to compensate athletes, the Rich Paul rule and now this.
Good luck with that, that train has left the station. The backlash has spread back across the international waters to China.
The question is, was this necessary?
Daryl Morey is still waiting to see if he is truly off the hook or if his job could still be on the line. Adam Silver may be supporting Morey publicly, but his job was on shaky ground after the Rockets playoff exit last year. He may have been on the way out the door anyway.
If the Rockets stumble out of the gate at the beginning of the season, do you really think Mike D’Antoni and Daryl Morey will have jobs?
Furthermore, If broadcast partnerships and abandoned corporate sponsorships spread past Houston to the rest of the NBA, the pressure will test the league’s initial backing. Money talks.
The next chapter going forward is seeing if the message gets lost or changed. LeBron may have bailed Daryl Morey out of an impossible situation. Here’s how.
Some members of the media came to Morey’s defense after the comments. Morey has gone from a possible pariah to a sympathetic figure who now has support in his corner. Now the narrative can be changed from an offensive tweet that was deleted to video comments that can run over and over again.
In short, the media can make this more about LeBron’s comments and push Morey’s tweet to the back burner and the message can be lost. Similar to the Colin Kaepernick situation.
Either way, LeBron James has put himself in the line of fire and may have to stay there for a while.