Dein erstes Forum » THE LAKERS DEPARTED LAX on Monday,

THE LAKERS DEPARTED LAX on Monday, Oct. 7, for a 14½-hour journey -- and their plane had no Wi-Fi connection. As the teams crossed 15 time zones and the Pacific date line, the reaction to Morey's tweet continued to escalate.

"We had zero knowledge of it before we took off," LeBron James said of the backlash.

By Tuesday, around the time the Lakers landed in Shanghai, NBA commissioner Adam Silver was conducting a news conference in Japan in which he defended Morey's tweet as "a freedom of expression."

Silver's stance didn't help ease tensions.

As the Lakers took the bus to the team hotel, they got wind that the NBA Cares event, scheduled to be hosted by the Nets, had been canceled earlier in the day by the Chinese government. When the Lakers got to the Ritz, they found out that the welcome reception for both teams that evening was canceled, too.

"We started to kind of get a sense of what was kind of happening," James said Monday.


Despite a number of events being canceled, the exhibition games involving the Lakers and Nets were still played in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Zhong Zhi/Getty Images
By Wednesday, the league's second NBA Cares event, this one hosted by the Lakers, had been canceled by the Chinese government. Undeterred and hoping to get their jet-lagged legs moving and salvage a day of training camp for their group full of new faces, the Lakers went to the Mercedes-Benz Arena to practice.

The basketball didn't last long.

After about 30 minutes of practice, the Lakers were rushed off the court by arena workers, sources told ESPN. The workers were tasked with sanding down and resurfacing the hardwood to remove the logos for the presenting sponsors of the China Games because those sponsors had withdrawn.

While the games were losing corporate money, the players were feeling it in their wallets as well.

James, Anthony Davis, Kyle Kuzma and Rajon Rondo -- to name a few -- had appearances canceled. One Lakers player, sources told ESPN, had agreed to a $1 million endorsement deal with a Chinese company prior to the trip. When he arrived -- poof -- it was gone. A seven-figure payday went out the window.

James, after taking 15 consecutive summer trips to China, skipped it this year to complete the filming of "Space Jam 2," anticipating that the China Games would serve as a substitute. Some of his most important appearances of the year -- including two with Nike and one with Beats by Dre -- were canceled during this trip.

According to public financial statements, Nike and other companies' basketball shoe sales have been relatively flat in recent quarters in North America but have been surging in China, where millions of teenagers save up to buy the latest signature models.

Eating an early lunch back at the hotel, players watched as the banners featuring their images -- and the logos of former sponsors -- were peeled off and pulled down until they lay in a clump at the base of the building. The players could only shake their heads at the sight.

"Everything was getting canceled right before things were [supposed to be] happening," James said. "Everything was getting canceled."

EDITOR'S PICKS

LeBron: Won't talk NBA-China dispute again

Protesters in Hong Kong burn LeBron jerseys
Just three weeks before, Silver had been in Beijing for the FIBA World Cup championship game, where he was at the center of a feel-good basketball delegation. He had meetings and meals with some of the league's partners in the country and celebrated 10-figure deals that had been negotiated over the summer to expand business in China.

Now, Silver was flying from Tokyo to Shanghai and was unsure, according to sources, if the Chinese government would even let him into the country.

By early afternoon, the commissioner made it through customs, maneuvering through fingerprint scans and facial-recognition technology. He'd have players and front-office personnel waiting for him at the hotel.

The NBA moved up its scheduled 4 p.m. meeting between Silver and the Nets' and Lakers' traveling parties to 2:30, with urgency growing by the minute.

"It's a long way to go for a high level of anxiety," a Nets team source said.

What was supposed to be a commissioner's meet and greet with players had turned into a make-or-break moment for the China Games.

Giannis Antetokounmpo Jersey
Joel Embiid Jersey
Ben Simmons Jersey
Damian Lillard Jersey