Ty Lawson kicked off Chinese basketball team after dance club photo
An Instagram post has gotten former NBA point guard Ty Lawson into hot water in China, but the post itself was tame compared to the racial abuse the player received afterwards.
The Chinese Basketball Associationโs (CBA) Fujian Sturgeons announced on Saturdayย it would not re-sign American point guard Ty Lawson due to โinappropriate commentsโ he posted on his Instagram.
What were those โinappropriate comments,โ you ask?
Former NBA guard Ty Lawson has been banned for life from Chinese CBA after posting a couple of stories on Instagram pic.twitter.com/XcSNIAC06Y
— Emiliano Carchia (@Carchia) September 19, 2020
According to the state news agency Xinhua, the guard will be dropped for โinsulting Chinese women.โ
“His inappropriate words are inconsistent with the social responsibilities and values abided by our club and have brought serious adverse social impacts to the club and the league. We will not sign him for the new season,” the Fujian Sturgeons said in a statement.
The 32-year-old Lawson, who was drafted 18th overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves (though traded immediately to the Denver Nuggets, where he played six seasons), had a strong season in Fujian, averaging 27 points, 9 assists, and 5.5 assists. The Sturgeons advanced to the 12-team playoffs and even won their opening-round game to make the quarterfinals.
Lawsonโs Instagram was reportedly flooded by Chinese fans demandingย he leave China.
Lawson responded on Sundayย in another Instagram Story:
โAlright, well, I was told not to address this, but I donโt know, I got to stick up for myself,” Lawson said on his Instagram story. “I am probably the least racist guy you have ever met in life. I have fun with everybody…. Cake means that she has a nice body, thatโs it!”
“Everybody talking about, โOh Ty youโre a racist. Oh my God get him out of China. Heโs a N*****!’ I am like bruh, youโre taking it too far, yall wild. But I am going to say at the same time: I meant no disrespect, all the racists and disrespect that is coming towards me is wild.”
“Everyone that knows me in China knows that I am not that person. At all,” Lawson said. “I was literally saying that she had a nice body and I danced at a club. I wasnโt at a strip club, I wasnโt having sex with the women in the club and disrespecting her. I didnโt to that.โ
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CBA introduces salary cap
Xinjiang center Zhou Qi is one of the CBAโs highest-paid Chinese players
The Chinese Basketball Association announced on Thursday that starting next season, all clubs will be subject to a league-wide salary cap.
According to Xinhua, the total salary for domestic Chinese players will be set at 44 million yuan ($6.5 million), with a floor of 20 million yuan ($2.96 million).
Clubs that break the limit will be forced to pay a 25% luxury tax.
Foreign players, on the other hand, have a limit of $7 million per season per player.
In addition, contracts will now be classified into five different categories: A, B, C, D, and E. The D contract is the maximum that can be offered, with only three permitted per team.
Currently, there are 25 players on D contracts in the league, Including Guangdong star Yรฌ Jiร nliรกn ๆๅปบ่ and Xinjiang center Zhลu Qรญ ๅจ็ฆ.
Xinhua reports that the introduction of the cap is designed to bring financial stability and improve the competitiveness of the league. Currently, most clubs operate on a loss.
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New Premier League TV deal
Englandโs top-flight soccer league has signedย a new broadcast deal with Tencent Sport.
The news follows the announcement last weekย that the Premier League had canceled its original five-year deal with PPTV after the Chinese streaming service failed to make a 160 million pound ($206 million) payment due in January.
The 564 million pound ($725 million) PPTV deal had been the most lucrative overseas contract for the league, but the cancelation left Chinese viewers without a โlegalโ channel to watch the games.
The financial details of the new contract with Tencent have not been released, but Tencent Premier League platform is offering more than half of the remaining games of the season for free, while the rest will be shown via subscription.
โWe and our clubs have an extremely passionate fanbase in China and are looking forward to working with the team at Tencent to engage with fans in new ways over the coming season,โ Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said in the statement.
Tencent Sports General Manager Ewell Zhao said: “The Premier League is one of the world’s most popular sports competitions and has many fans in China.
“In collaboration with the Premier League, Tencent Sports hopes to leverage its platforms and technology to bring the drama of Premier League matches to fans and share with them the passion and excitement of football.”
Theย China Sports Columnย runs every week on The China Project.
