An NBA spokesman responded to the actions of a Houston Rockets public relations employee who turned down a question from CNN reporter Christina Macfarlane. The reporter, who hoped to inquire about how the newly-assembled duo of James Harden and Russell Westbrook felt about the state of the NBA's willingness to let players speak their minds about several political issues, has changed at the wake of a strained relationship with the Chinese government.
Macfarlane was interrupted by a PR staffer, who said “Excuse me, we're taking basketball questions only,” before her microphone was taken from her.
“This is a legitimate question,” said Macfarlane while she still had a hold of the mic. “This is an event that's happened this week during the NBA. This particular question has not been answered.”
The NBA encourages players to speak their minds, they said … pic.twitter.com/rcs3caQCzP
— Benjamin Hoffman (@BenHoffmanNYT) October 10, 2019
As pointed out by @espn_macmahon this was shut down by a team PR person. It's certainly a bad look for the NBA, but the fault here lies with the Rockets. And for those who've asked, no, I don't think players are obligated to speak out. But this … this isn't the solution.
— Benjamin Hoffman (@BenHoffmanNYT) October 10, 2019
The NBA quickly jumped in to apologize to Macfarlane, noting the PR staffer inappropriately cut her off during the post-game media session:
“A team representative inappropriately interjected to prevent CNN’s Christina Macfarlane from receiving an answer to her question,” said the statement, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “We’ve apologized to Ms. Macfarlane as this was inconsistent with how the NBA conducts media events.”
Some around league circles rumored that the staffer might have done so at the request of the two stars sharing the podium, as the NBA is still navigating a tenuous situation with China at the wake of Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeting out his support for Hong Kong.
The Rockets beat the Toronto Raptors 118-111 in the second of two games played at Saitama Super Arena in Japan. While the media availability was cut off completely from games taking place in Shanghai, China. Japan still had media sessions take place as usual, which left the door open for questions of this nature to be asked during the post-game availability.
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