America’s soft power vs. China’s sharp power: NBA and China

The article examines the 2019 NBA-China controversy as a case of interaction between American soft power and Chinese sharp power. The NBA, a vehicle of American soft power, came under intense pressure from Chinese authorities after a pro-Hong Kong tweet by Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey. Drawing on a qualitative, concept-driven single-case study, the article examines how China used censorship, economic pressure, and narrative control in response to Morey’s tweet. The article focuses on two factors shaping this interaction: regime conditioning and asymmetric economic interdependence. The findings show that the political regime conditions the logic through which sports-based influence operates, while the NBA’s dependence on the Chinese market provided China with significant leverage. However, neither soft power nor sharp power fully determined the outcome. Instead, NBA-China relations moved toward a renegotiated equilibrium in which the NBA regained access to the Chinese market while China retained significant leverage over the relationship.