🌍 Why LeBron just wrote for China’s Communist Party
Plus: Leaders who run (their country)
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Good morning Intriguer. Like every kid growing up in the 90s, I was obsessed with all the iconic 90s things, like Tamagotchis, Sailor Moon, the Nintendo Game Boy, and playing handball and / or tag on the asphalt playground at school (which always resulted in the most gnarly scrapes).
But my most prized possession was my Chicago Bulls cap, which I paired with my red-striped Snoopy two piece set. It was as close to Michael Jordan and the era of the USA Dream Team that a kid from suburbia could get, and I relished every moment I wore that ‘fit.
Though Jordan is now out of the public eye (after The Last Dance), the legacy he left on the global stage was far-reaching and impactful, and catapulted the NBA into the sporting mainstream in many countries, including China. We’ll dive into the latest NBA developments there in our top story today.
Investment of the day
Pokémon
Investing in Pokémon cards has delivered a 450% return over the past five years — that’s a compound annual rate of more than 40%, placing it ahead of most traditional asset classes.
Yao gotta be kidding
History has produced two big LBJs: President Lyndon B Johnson, and basketballer LeBron James.
For today, your favourite team of ex-diplomats will focus on… the basketballer.
We opened the Communist Party’s latest People’s Daily for some fresh takes on socialism with Chinese characteristics, but instead got an op-ed from the 6’9” forward from Akron, Ohio who went on to become the NBA’s all-time scorer. Was he weighing in on…
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Whether the pick-and-roll should ever be retired?
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If turning from corner threes to floaters is the next big innovation?
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Does Bronny (his son) have the handles or will he just inherit the hype?
No, dear Intriguer. LBJ pledged to “contribute to the development of Chinese basketball” and suggested the sport could even serve as a US-China “bridge”. Why?
This isn’t new (he’s now on his ~15th visit to China). Nor is he alone: Golden State’s Steph Curry just wrapped a China trip, and Clippers guard James Harden was there last month.
So… why? Three big reasons.
First, money: we’re guessing billionaire LBJ would love any future US-China bridge to be crossed by folks wearing his very own Nike LeBrons™️. Ditto for Curry’s Under Armour© kicks, or Harden’s sweet sweet Adidas® Volume 9s. Relatedly, that leads us to…
Second, the China market has been tough for US sports brands since at least 2019, when US-China ties were nose-diving, a pro-Hong Kong democracy tweet got the NBA a one-year ban in China, and then Covid closed whatever gap remained. In parallel, China’s own local rivals like Anta went on to crush it, carving a slice of China’s $60B sportswear pie.
So allowing LBJ the front page arguably now signals the NBA is welcome back. And that leads us to…
Third, LBJ frames his op-ed as sports diplomacy, and he does focus on his love for both basketball and China. But amid all those financial drivers above — and the absence of any apparent official DC endorsement — any diplomatic benefit might be incidental here.
But still, that’s not to diss any soft power value of having LBJ now tour China again after six years. To the contrary, recall 300 million folks in China now play basketball, after the NBA pulled off what no other US pro league has achieved: getting local traction.
Even a minor-league US player like Stephon Marbury now has his own statue, museum, and postage stamp in China after winning three championships with the Beijing Ducks. And of course, the good vibes flow both ways, too: Yao Ming’s NBA debut via the Houston Rockets long made him more recognisable to Americans than even China’s president!
And in an era of escalating US-China competition, that’s not nothing.
So maybe LBJ will join the ranks of 1970s-era ping-pongers preserving a high-vibes and low-risk channel for US-China dialogue. Or, you know, maybe he’ll just sell some more Nike LBJs.
Intrigue’s Take
Call us cynical, but whether it’s an airline touting a new ‘friendship route’, a university launching a new offshore ‘friendship campus’, or an NBA tycoon here touting the game as a ‘bridge’, it’s ultimately more about market penetration than altruistic togetherness. In LBJ’s case, we got early hints when he dunked on the NBA team manager’s 2019 tweet that first got the league banned in China ("Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.").
LBJ telling a US citizen to just stfu rather than, say, back a struggle for freedom playing out on the world’s front pages, led to criticism LBJ was pushing profits over principles. And it also hinted at the way China’s heft could effectively impose censorship abroad.
But others framed it all around ‘constructive engagement’: better to influence from within rather than criticise from abroad, right?
The thing is, constructive engagement increasingly looks like selective engagement, and not on the free world’s terms: c’mon, no need to worry about any strangling of Hong Kong democracy, or fire-hosing of Philippine marines, or oppression of folks in Tibet. Just show us that sweet right-hand tomahawk in transition, amirite?! (Or go home)
Anyway, LBJ’s op-ed is still only available in Mandarin, suggesting the party outlet was focused more on reaching folks in China rather than (as can be the case) abroad. Why?
Building on last week’s big WWII parade, the party will cite LBJ as more proof of foreign validation to bolster its own legitimacy at home: You see? Even LeBron loves us!
Sound even smarter:
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Local tech moguls like Alibaba chair Joe Tsai have been exploring the idea of a local version of America’s “March Madness“ tournament for China.
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Meanwhile, elsewhere…
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🇺🇸 UNITED STATES – Murdoch saga ends. And speaking of the Murdoch family's media holdings… |
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🇺🇸 UNITED STATES – What letter? Comment: We’ve written about the grim geopolitics of Epstein — this drip-drip of revelations will consume the seat of US power just as challenges continue to mount. |
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🇫🇷 FRANCE – Bayrou out. Comment: Macron now has to choose between pinning his hopes on yet another PM, or calling early elections that polls suggest could empower Marine Le Pen’s right-leaning National Rally. |
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🇳🇵 NEPAL – Gen Z isn’t happy. Comment: As elsewhere, it’s a fight between authorities claiming they’re protecting users from harmful content, and citizens arguing it all verges on authoritarianism. You figure out a way to walk that line, or your citizens will show you the door. |
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🇮🇱 ISRAEL – Attack in Jerusalem. |
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🇦🇷 ARGENTINA – Not a good sign. Comment: It’s potentially a sign that, at least in the capital, any relief at Milei’s taming of inflation is being outweighed by anger at the hardship it’s all entailed. |
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🇮🇩 INDONESIA – Finance bulwark leaves. Comment: You’ll recall Indrawati surprised folks earlier this year when she endorsed Prabowo’s big-ticket spending. Her demise could now also be a reminder that when you trade a bit of legitimacy for tenure, you can just end up losing both. |
Extra Intrigue
What people around the world are googling:
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Netizens in 🇮🇶 Iraq googled ‘دعاء خسوف القمر’ (total eclipse prayer) as locals attended a service to mark Sunday night’s blood moon eclipse.
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🇦🇺 Australians searched ‘Erin Patterson’ after a court sensationally jailed her for life for murdering three in-laws by serving them toxic mushrooms.
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And folks in 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan looked for ‘послание президента 2025’ (presidential message 2025) as President Tokayev used his yearly address to propose abolishing the senate.
Run of the day
Credits: David Sweeney/The Canadian Press
Nothing gives us whiplash like pictures of world leaders doing semi-normal people things like, you know, going for a run.
That’s Canada’s Mark Carney above, swapping the campaign trail for a 26 km (16 mi) cross-country trail run over the weekend. If you must know (and we know you must), he placed 58th out of 120 runners.
Today’s poll
Which sport do you think has the most diplomatic sway? |
Yesterday’s poll: What do you think is driving the world's political instability?
📉 Economic malaise (22%)
❄️ Lack of political courage (26%)
👨💻 Technological disruption (7%)
🌏 Geopolitical shifts (33%)
✍️ Other (write in!) (9%)
Your two cents:
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👨💻 V.K: “The world's governments, traditional media, and institutions don't know how to deal with mass social media.”
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📉 A.M.C: “All the options are true but they're all pointing back to the intense concentration of money in the hands of relatively few people.”
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✍️ V.V: “Beyond all of the other options is the growing awareness of the climate crisis.”
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🌏 H.L: “Power centres are evolving. Change is inevitable.”