The website for Tencent Sports also indicated that upcoming Celtics games would not be livestreamed, rather just an interactive graphic shown instead.
On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, a Celtics fan page with approximately 615,000 followers posted that it would not be posting updates from the team because of a player’s social media oversights.
“From now on, our page will no longer report any information about the Boston Celtics, and our Weibo will stop updating!” read the post from Celtics Weibo Express. “For any behavior that undermines harmony of the nations and the dignity of the motherland, we resolutely resist!”
The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and regularly travels the world to spread his message of tolerance and peace.
CNN has reached out to the NBA and Tencent for comment.
“My message to the Chinese government is free Tibet,” Kanter said. “Tibet belongs to Tibetans, I am here to add my voice and speak out against what is happening in Tibet under the Chinese government’s brutal rule.”
“Under the Chinese government’s brutal rule, Tibetan people’s basic rights and freedoms are non-existent.”
Later in the day, when Kanter’s Boston Celtics took to the court in their season-opening game against the New York Knicks, he was wearing shoes with the message “Free Tibet” on the side.
“We will never accept those attacks to discredit Tibet’s development and progress,” he said.
Several Chinese businesses cut ties with the Rockets as a result and the NBA came under severe pressure from Chinese authorities.
Tibet is an internationally recognized autonomous region within the People’s Republic of China, though many Tibetans dispute the legitimacy of China’s rule.