re: Stephen Curry said he didn’t know enough about Chinese history to speak on it.

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but it's not like the players or coahces are going to lose money somehow could they?

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Of course they could. And that’s exactly why they are being quiet on the issue.

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but it's not like the players or coahces are going to lose money somehow could they?

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You vastly underestimate how uber sensitive the Chinese government is to the slightest big of opposition. The whole reason this mess started is because Daryl Morey (GM of the Rockets) made a singular tweet in support of HK. That's it. Nothing extreme, not even direct opposition to China. Just support of HK. Now, here we are.

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My question, which is admittedly ignoratn and probably silly, is what are these people (players, coaches, etc) afraid of?

If curry or kerr or whoever else came out and said "oh yeah man, that situation is awful. CAn't believe what they're doing over there, it's despicable. Those people deserve better" or something, what repercussions are they scared of? I realize china gives the NBA a lot of money, which is why this whole thing is an issue anyway, but it's not like the players or coahces are going to lose money somehow could they?

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It's not a stupid question, especially if you haven't really kept up with the NBA over the past decade and a half or so.

The global market for basketball has exploded, and China is far and away the leader. There is massive money at stake if China's government sours on the NBA's presence, and given that the NBA's global appeal is what's driven their growth, they can ill afford to take that risk as a company.

Throw in the fact that China's government is incredibly sensitive during the best of times, the fact that this whole brouhaha began over an NBA exec's public support for anti-government protesters in Hong King makes it doubly tenuous for the NBA.

If I'm thinking the best of them, I'm thinking many of them might WANT to be as vociferous against China as they are railing against perceived domestic slights against social justice, but undoubtedly they've been warned by the powers that be to either feign ignorance or avoid the subject of indiscretions by the Chinese government altogether.