{"id":145023,"date":"2025-09-09T21:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T21:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145023\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T21:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T21:37:08","slug":"lakers-star-lebron-james-did-not-write-article-that-carried-his-name-in-chinese-paper-sources","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145023\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers star LeBron James did not write article that carried his name in Chinese paper: Sources"},"content":{"rendered":"

LeBron James recently toured China for the 15th time as a signature Nike athlete, promoting his shoes and clothing apparel for the sporting goods conglomerate.<\/p>\n

And, as is customary when any NBA star goes to the world\u2019s second-largest country, with a population of 1.4 billion, to promote either the game or his shoe, James was complimentary. However, when multiple news reports stated on Monday that James had written an essay for a Communist, state-controlled daily news outlet, it sparked criticism in Hong Kong and the U.S.<\/p>\n

Despite James\u2019 name being attached to the story, two sources close to James confirmed that he did not submit an essay to People\u2019s Daily. Instead, he conducted group interviews with reporters in the two cities he visited. Those sources stated that the words attributed to James in the article were accurate, but they were not exclusive to any news outlet. They were not submitted to anyone as an essay or opinion editorial.<\/p>\n

Instead, comments made by the Los Angeles Lakers star in group settings throughout his Chinese tour last week, to Shanghai and Chengdu, were printed in Mandarin by the newspaper. At the bottom of the article, according to three Chinese translators advising The Athletic, it refers to James as the \u201cauthor,\u201d but also states that James was interviewed \u2014 and the piece was edited \u2014 by a reporter from People\u2019s Daily.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasketball is not only a sport \u2014 it is a bridge that connects us,\u201d James said, as printed by People\u2019s Daily. He then, according to the report, recalled a female Chinese basketball player, Niu Ziwei, whom he said he met on a 2012 tour of China, and said he saw her again on this tour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt truly honored, and also more aware of my responsibility to help promote sports exchanges,\u201d James said, according to People\u2019s Daily. \u201cI have three children of my own and I know how basketball can inspire generation after generation to chase their dreams. Seeing so many young people in China who love basketball, I hope I can also contribute to the development of the game here.\u201d<\/p>\n

This trip was James\u2019 first to China since October 2019, when he and the Lakers went to Shanghai for preseason games against the Brooklyn Nets just as an international controversy was erupting between the Chinese government and the NBA over a social media post by then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who supported Hong Kong protestors in his post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Because the league supported Morey, declining to punish him for the post, the Chinese government banned NBA games from the country\u2019s television airwaves for several years. In 2022, commissioner Adam Silver stated that the fallout had cost the league \u201chundreds of millions of dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lakers and Nets were essentially confined to their hotel rooms for days as the controversy escalated.<\/p>\n

When the Lakers returned home, James ripped Morey for his post, calling him \u201cmisinformed\u201d and saying Morey was \u201cnot educated on the situation.\u201d James\u2019 production company was working on \u201cSpace Jam: A New Legacy\u201d at the time \u2014 a major motion picture that was not released in mainland China.<\/p>\n

James, 40, will play his 23rd NBA season starting in October. The Phoenix Suns and Nets will play two exhibition games in China \u2014 on Oct. 10 and 12 \u2014 in the first NBA games held there since the Lakers and Nets arrived six years ago, amid the Morey controversy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe basketball atmosphere in China has always amazed me,\u201d James said, as published by People\u2019s Daily. \u201cEach time I come here, my family and I receive such a warm welcome. The kindness and enthusiasm of my Chinese friends leave me deeply touched.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I can do in return is to give my all in every single game, as my way of saying thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Photo: Ronald Martinez \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LeBron James recently toured China for the 15th time as a signature Nike athlete, promoting his shoes and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[690,1055,355,99,1794],"class_list":["post-145023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-culture","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-sports-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}