SHANGHAI—A day before a scheduled tipoff of a Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers game in Shanghai, a crisis for the National Basketball Association appeared no closer to resolution.

A player meet and greet was canceled, and a media event was postponed, a spokeswoman for the league said late Wednesday. The teams did practice and some players participated in a Special Olympics-related NBA Cares event, though one planned for Tuesday didn’t go ahead.

A tweet last week from an executive with the Houston Rockets—which are popular in China but not in the country this week—set off a political storm as it praised antigovernment protesters in Hong Kong. Chinese broadcasters and sponsors then suspended some aspects of cooperation with the NBA when its commissioner said he wouldn’t apologize for the tweet by Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, though the league also said it was regrettable that it upset Chinese fans.

The NBA spokeswoman said she had no information about Thursday’s planned game in Shanghai.

Half-hour media events with players from the Nets and Lakers were delayed late Wednesday with no indication of whether or when they would take place. The Nets are owned by a co-founder of Chinese online merchant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. , Joe Tsai.