Report: Latest Details on LeBron James' Meeting with Lakers, Nets in China

The Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets played a pair of preseason games in China (Shanghai and Shenzhen, respectively), but it took an Oct. 9 meeting before the games to ensure they would go off without a hitch.

After Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's since-deleted tweet in support of the Hong Kong protests sparked controversy, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver spoke to both teams involved to explain the situation, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

LeBron James reportedly spoke up at the meeting to ensure the league takes the initiative on any messaging.

"Why are we the ones to go through the risks of speaking out in China when the league should be the first to address the matter, with our voices to follow?" a source said of James' message.

Several players also lost sponsorship opportunities over the incident, including Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma.

NBA Cares events featuring the Nets and Lakers were also canceled, per ESPN's Rachel Nichols.

By last Wednesday, the day before the first game was set to take place, "there was a sizable amount of Lakers and Nets players internally feeling that the games should not go on due to all of the chaos," Charania reported.

The games ended up being played as scheduled, however, with the teams returning home without incident.

Still, the league's relationship with China could be forever fractured all due to Morey's tweet. 

Per Saheli Roy Choudhury of CNBC.com, "thousands of Hong Kongers have protested for four months over anxiety about Beijing’s creeping influence over the city, which the British handed over to China in 1997. Those protests have become increasingly violent."

The NBA has received strong backlash from the Chinese government and businesses in regard to the tweet and those in support of the Hong Kong protests for its official response.

Per Kelly Iko of The Athletic, ex-Rockets great Yao Ming, now the president of the Chinese Basketball Association, cut all ties with the Rockets.

Tencent and CCTV also suspended all television broadcasts of the Rockets, and numerous companies pulled sponsorships with the franchise.

The NBA also received significant criticism from those supporting the Hong Kong protests following its statement released on Oct. 6:

"We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league support individuals’ educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them. We have great respect for this history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together."

Politicians on both sides of the aisle denounced the NBA's response, including Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke and Republican Senator Ben Sasse. Senator Josh Hawley also wrote a response to Silver.

Silver contributed an additional statement Tuesday, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic.

"The NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say," Silver said. "We simply could not operate that way."

"I do know there are consequences from freedom of speech; we will have to live with those consequences," Silver told reporters. "For those who question our motivation, this is about far more than growing our business."

The NBA regular season is set to begin Oct. 22 when the New Orleans Pelicans visit the defending champion Toronto Raptors.