BREAKING NEWS – Los Angeles, California – The NBA’s ongoing China controversy seeped into its highly anticipated Lakers-Clippers opener in Los Angeles, as a group of activists did their best to make sure the message from Daryl Morey’s now-deleted tweet was all over Staples Center. Approximately 13,000 T-shirts reading “Fight for freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” were handed out in the streets around Staples Center in the hours before the game tipped off. That message is the same one Morey tweeted out a few weeks ago, which led to a scorched-earth response from China. Lakers’ star LeBron James doubled down on his support for China. “China and my sponsor Nike is right, and the protesters demanding freedom are wrong,” he began. “I wish the cops here dealt with those protesters the way the Chinese would. Like putting them under house arrest until the end of the season… and beating them during halftime of every game, at least until they stopped whining about human rights.”
