As much as pro leagues want to believe it, this week the NBA in China proved again that sports don’t live in a vacuum.

So here’s a note to the NHL: Start thinking about how you’re going to talk about the 2022 Winter Olympics, set to be held in Beijing, China. Whatever the league and the Players’ Association decide in terms of participation — which will be contentious in its own right, with the players really wanting to go and the owners really wanting them to stay home — both parties are going to have to explain the decision in the context of China’s combustible political atmosphere.

If one tweet from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey can absolutely ruin a week-long promotional campaign, conservatively costing the NBA tens of millions of dollars, imagine what could happen with the wrong comments from someone associated with the NHL in the lead-up to the Olympics? Is someone going to have to muzzle Brian Burke and Don Cherry for months? (And is that a bad thing?)

Imagine, Morey was sitting at home and just tapped his phone once, tweeting a meme that supported the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Considering all the vile garbage on the internet — including on that site — it should have been rather innocuous.

It wasn’t. The communist government of China was outraged. It canceled some of the events scheduled for the Nets and Lakers, pulled down promotional billboards, and made the whole trip a nightmare. It wasted tons of money from media outlets that sent reporters there for what should have been a week of really interesting stories — including our own intrepid Brian Lewis. Instead, they essentially got squat, having to report only on things being canceled, followed by oppressive and then non-existent media access.

It brings to light an age-old question leagues hate to answer: How much do you value profit over social responsibility?

Adam Silver thus far has been a brilliant commissioner for the NBA, and he continued to do so while saying he supports Morey’s “freedom of political expression in this situation.” But, of course, that doesn’t mean he supports the sentiment itself. That would be too messy. That would muddy the waters of business, with huge growth potential in the world’s most populated country.

Whereas the NHL is a league filled mostly by soft-spoken players and executives holding very high the value of not ruffling any feathers, Silver has already created a league that prides itself on not only being socially conscious, but being warriors for social justice. Its biggest star, LeBron James, got his buddies to follow him and wear “I can’t breathe” T-shirts to protest police brutality. Silver threatened to move the All-Star Game from Charlotte because of North Carolina’s transgender bathroom bill. There are daily diatribes railing against President Trump from the two biggest coaches in the game, Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr.

As columnist Mike Sielski so poignantly wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the 76ers should have protested Tuesday’s game against a visiting Chinese team if they “want to show everyone that they have some principles and guts, that they’re more than just cheap progressive posers tapping into the woke zeitgeist for some easy money and good PR.” When the Wells Fargo Center threw out two fans from that game for having signs supporting the Hong Kong protests, the point of profit in the face of justice was driven home.

The NBA’s greed has been exposed — not that it was ever hidden. Nobody wishes leagues don’t make money, and growing internationally is a good idea outside of just profit. Spreading fun games around the world is a good thing.

Yet the NHL has to learn from this episode. Both the players and the owners decided in September not to reopen the current collective bargaining agreement, thus avoiding another lockout and keeping the league going through 2021-22. But it also leaves the Olympics as an unresolved matter. The players were already upset over missing the 2018 games in South Korea, and will be equally upset if they miss Beijing.

But maybe what the NBA has gone through this week will make it easier for them to miss another Olympiad. Maybe the players will see the strife, think about playing in a very new hockey market in a time zone that makes it difficult to watch in North America, and deal with it. Then commissioner Gary Bettman can say the decision had nothing to do with the political situation in China, and everyone can walk away without much damage.

Maybe.

But the lead-up to that is filled with landmines. Just ask the NBA.

Love the Hate

I can’t get enough of the Drew Doughty-Matt Tkachuk rivalry, and I wish there was more of it in the NHL. Both players are a rare breed in this league, more often than not, saying whatever they want. It’s easier because both are really good — Doughty en route to the Hall of Fame with his two Stanley Cups with the Kings; Tkachuk making a name for himself as a physical pest with a scoring touch in front for the Flames.

But the two openly dislike each other. In the past, Doughty said he had no respect for Tkachuk, and before they played each other on Tuesday, the veteran defenseman added, “I think we both know who the better player is, so if he wants to compliment me first, I’ll give him one back.”

Tkachuk had two goals and an assist — his second goal tying the game late in the third period — before Doughty added to his two assist with the game-winner in 3-on-3 overtime. After he scored, he went pro-wrestling on the Calgary crowd. More rivalries, please.

Sid still can play

No one will argue against Connor McDavid being the best player in the league when he’s healthy. But Sidney Crosby, now 32 years old, isn’t being put out to pasture just yet. Should be interesting to see if he can carry the Penguins this season.

Don’t forget the vets

It’s good for the league it has so many good, young players. But just like Crosby, let’s not forget those who have done it before.

Such as the league MVP from this past season, Nikita Kucherov, still blasting away down in Tampa Bay.

And how is it possible that Alex Ovechkin still can score power-play goals from the left circle when everyone in the building knows that will happen? Moreover, how can it be allowed to do it twice in a game? Guess it’s not easy to stop?

Stay tuned . .

.. . . to the Flyers, specifically, my preseason Vezina Trophy pick, Carter Hart. Of course, it’s early, and of course, Hart is just 21 years old with 33 games of NHL experience. But if he can make a stop like this on none other than Taylor Hall, well, it seems he has a pretty high ceiling.

Parting shot

The next installment of Lazlo Holmes “does that hockey thing” is here, and it features the Devils’ P.K. Subban. Funny stuff.