Beijing and the National Basketball Association hardened their standoff on Tuesday, as China canceled broadcasts of preseason games and the league’s commissioner said he wouldn’t apologize for a weekend tweet by a team executive that triggered a firestorm of criticism. The escalation in tensions threatened to plunge the NBA’s carefully cultivated China franchise into deeper crisis, with more merchants halting sales of NBA merchandise, many Chinese celebrities pulling out of an NBA event in Shanghai and a major Chinese sponsor...

Source: Wall Street Journal October 08, 2019 08:20 UTC