Well, we finally know what gets LeBron James boldly declaring out freedom hashtags on Twitter! You just have to be a well-known basketball commentator on ESPN who got suspended!

Then bold King James will sound out the battle cry of “FREEEEEEEEEEDOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM” just like Mel Gibson in “Braveheart.” Or something like that.

In case you’ve missed the latest twists in the NBA’s continuing saga of sucking up to China, this latest episode involved Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN and Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri. Hawley had sent out a press release “blasting” the NBA for kissing China’s ass while promoting all their social justice catchphrases. Well, Wojnarowski took exception to that, and emailed Hawley directly from his work email account (which is an important detail).

Don’t criticize #China or express support for law enforcement to @espn. It makes them real mad ⁦@Outkick⁩ pic.twitter.com/WJDxrotUBD

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 10, 2020

Once this went viral, Wojnarowski apologized over Twitter, and then ESPN suspended him. The suspension will reportedly last two weeks, which if it just started, means that Wojnarowski would be back on the job before the NBA season restarts on July 30th. For his part, Senator Hawley disagreed with the suspension, saying that he would rather see ESPN ask questions about the NBA’s obvious pro-communist China bias.

Well, the decision to suspend Wojnarowski led to a flurry of “#FreeWoj” tweets from many a blue-checked NBA player.

And the biggest name of the game, LeBron James, also chimed in.
https://twitter.com/KingJames/status/1282430987272691713
Well, if the king has spoken, then… yeah, no. This would be the same LeBron James who proved how little free speech meant to him when he censured Daryl Morey. There were those who wanted Morey fired for his “Free Hong Kong” tweet. LeBron James called Morey “uneducated” during that entire debacle. But a hearty “f*** you” to a senator by a sports personality that LeBron happens to like is just fine, because Hawley DARED question the holy and blessed and rich relationship between the NBA and their Chinese benefactors, while pointing out that the NBA has no problem criticizing American police officers???

LeBron James knows nothing about standing up for a principle that could cost him. You know who says so? Hong Kong freedom activist Joshua Wong.
https://twitter.com/joshuawongcf/status/1282465509867507714
I believe that the young man from Hong Kong just knocked out the so-called “king” of the NBA, and it wasn’t even close. That kind of burn should shame LeBron into taking a good, long, look at himself and his lavish superstar lifestyle, funded in part by the government that wishes to smash the life out of Joshua Wong and his compatriots in Hong Kong. Of course, that would mean that “King” James possesses some kind of self-awareness. It’s pretty clear by now that the only awareness LeBron James has is about just how much money goes into his bank account.

Senator Hawley is correct to press the NBA on their cozy financial ties to China. And he is completely free to also question why the NBA feels the burning drive to virtue signal – though it’s clear that the Chinese money is the more sensitive topic to the NBA. Adrian Wojnarowski won’t be using his work email address to send profanities again – and he’s lucky that he chose a politically correct target in a Republican senator. Can you imagine if he had directed that expletive toward, say, Senator Chuck Schumer, who has called for tariffs on China in the past? And why does Wojnarowski feel the need to defend the NBA on their ties to China? Could it be ESPN/Disney’s lucrative China deals?

LeBron James, however, will just keep raking in the Chinese yuan for as long as he can, while Joshua Wong continues to live under constant threat of arrest and being “disappeared” into mainland China. Only one of these two can be called a man of principle, and it isn’t the one who has his own line of Chinese-made Nike shoes.

Featured image: original graphic by Brand X Studio/used by permission