The general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey, may have meant well when he was showing support for Hong Kong through his “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” tweet. And why is it necessarily a bad thing on a moral scale?
It’s not. The people of the land are fighting oppression and trying to obtain their freedoms back from the Chinese government. Good on Daryl Morey when it comes to being a human being.
With that being said though, it would turn out to be a horrible business move, and it’s taken a toll on the entire National Basketball Association, particularly the Houston Rockets. In fact, the Rockets have been hit the hardest with the China feud.
Before the official numbers had came out, early estimations had the Rockets with a total loss of $25 million. In Houston’s defense, however, it hasn’t gotten to that point as of yet, but the numbers are pretty close to that amount. It’s so terrible for the Rockets that even their superstar James Harden is suffering drastic lost profits.
League sources say the franchise has lost more than $7 million in revenue this season from cancelled Chinese sponsorship agreements and nearly $20 million overall when terminated multiyear deals are calculated.
For their superstar James Harden, the losses could be considerable if no resolution is reached. A source says Harden’s endorsement agreement with Shanghai’s SPD Bank Credit Card is imperiled.
As a result of the lost profits, NBA franchises are even getting ready for a lower salary cap than what is currently projected. The union has been involved as well, teaching players on issues going on around the world.
And for one reason: Millions and millions of dollars are at stake.
This Could Effect the Futures Betting Odds of the Houston Rockets
Currently, at the moment the Houston Rockets are placed at +800 odds to win the NBA championship this season, while sitting at +500 to win the Western Conference crown. Here is the full list of futures odds for the Rockets:
- To win the NBA championship (+800)
- To win the Western Conference championship (+500)
- To win the Southwest Division championship (-260)
- To make the NBA Playoffs (-2000)
Here are the MVP odds for both James Harden and Russell Westbrook, the two superstars of the Houston Rockets:
- James Harden (+760)
- Russell Westbrook (+2500)
Okay, so hear me out for a minute, because this is going to sound like I’m wearing a tinfoil hat spewing conspiracy theories, but I feel this is justified, especially considering the NBA has already given us evidence of manipulated game results in the past — at least the way I’m seeing it.
You have the old Sacramento Kings, on several occasions, coming close to upsetting the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant-led Los Angeles Lakers, but magically the Lakers would always escape with a win after they would take a load of free throw shots.
For example, with the 2002 Western Conference Finals: Sacramento was just one quarter away from taking out the Lakers, and doing so in Game 6. However, when the final quarter came, the officiating would all of a sudden become absolutely horrific. In that fourth quarter, Los Angeles would shoot an insane 27 times from the free throw line, and of course, this would contribute to the Lakers breaking away at the Kings’ lead before eventually winning to force a Game 7 — Shaq and Kobe would then advance to another NBA Finals.
Here’s even more of a head-scratcher for you with that series: In that Game 6 between Los Angeles and Sacramento, Mike Bibby would take an elbow to the mouth from Kobe Bryant, but it would actually be Bryant that would take the two shots at the free throw line. You see what I mean? You can’t help but to just be skeptical about the NBA manipulating playoff results, wanting a power brand in the Los Angeles Lakers (not to mention the city of LA) in the Finals rather than a Sacramento Kings-type franchise.
And then you had the Tim Donaghy scandal where games were blatantly being fixed. On top of that, you have someone like Scott Foster still reffing in the league and doing so despite him making hundreds of phone calls with Donaghy. And here’s the kicker: Those calls were made before and after games that bets were placed on by Donaghy. Needless to say, the NBA has some shady business in their past.
With all of the tension between the Houston Rockets and China, the Chinese government could completely censor Rockets games in their country, but still allow the rest of the NBA to be broadcasted in the communist state. With James Harden and Russell Westbrook at the helm, Houston is most certainly a playoff team, and a contender to win both the West and the Finals.
With all of that laid out on the table, here is the question: What exactly will the officiating be like in a potential Western Conference Finals matchup between the Rockets and LeBron James and Anthony Davis’ Los Angeles Lakers? Will the NBA want to manipulate their postseason for ratings and revenue?
The next question that’s important in this whole thing too is: Will China want to censor a huge event like the Western Conference and NBA Finals if the Rockets were involved? If they do, how will the NBA respond to this?
The league is certainly not going to want to miss out on a ton of advertising money that will come from the Chinese market, which makes me incredibly skeptical that they’ll do Houston dirty if this whole situation doesn’t get figured out before then.
Also consider this as well, which will also have an impact on the betting odds: Not only is this hurting revenue for the Houston Rockets, but this could also hurt their chances of bringing in new talent. With how Morey operates, it appears that he makes a big move every season either through the trade or free agent market. Are high-profile players going to want to come to Houston knowing they could lose millions of dollars in revenue?
We’ve already seen players such as Klay Thompson, Rajon Rondo, and Gordon Hayward lose money because of ANTA footwear cutting their connections with the NBA, and we’ve also seen other Chinese companies such as Li Ning, Vivo phones and others follow suit. With the Houston Rockets being the epicenter for this entire public relations disaster with China, players may not want to touch this franchise at the moment because of potential lost money.
With the NBA having the potential to manipulate the playoffs because of this circus, and players being hesitant to go to Houston because of decreasing revenue, it’s only a matter of time before the gambling community catches on and the Rockets’ betting odds start to get shaken up — both for the franchise and their superstar players.
You’ve been warned.
