LOS ANGELES – Maybe it was the jet lag.



Or the sheer frustration that came with the Lakers’ disastrous trip to China that was upended when Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey sent that seven-word tweet supporting the protesters in Hong Kong back on Oct. 4. Or, perhaps, the realization that the NBA can no longer fill its pockets in quite the same way inside that communist country because the spotlight is on now when it comes to all the ideological conflicts.



Something compelled LeBron James to go down this dark road on Monday night, when the NBA star who has made such profound use of his powerful voice in recent years decided to … admonish Morey? So much for defending free speech. So much for recognizing the elephant in the room – beyond all the money the league and its stars stand to lose, of course – that the folks Morey was supporting are doing all of this in pursuit of democracy.



This was not the headline anyone...