Why LeBron just wrote an Op-Ed for China’s Communist Party

Editor’s note: LeBron has since denied penning the article, insisting the story was based on interviews he gave.

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…

• Whether the pick-and-roll should ever be retired?
• If turning from corner threes to floaters is the next big innovation?
• 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:

• 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.