The NBA’s ongoing China controversy seeped into its highly anticipated Lakers-Clippers opener in Los Angeles on Tuesday, 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.
These T-shirts, approximately 13,000 of them, were printed and hauled out to downtown L.A. in a moving van and are currently being handed out on the streets surrounding Staples Center for free, hours before Lakers-Clippers tips off pic.twitter.com/snbGdd5zSG
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) October 23, 2019
The activists obviously didn’t do so with the approval of the stadium operations staff, though.
A security guard walked up to the pro-Hong Kong group handing out t-shirts outside of the Lakers/Clippers season opener and issued them a warning https://t.co/QbAl2AVoxx pic.twitter.com/shFfO0s8mJ
— L.A. Times Sports (@latimessports) October 23, 2019