Last month, People’s Daily, a Chinese Communist Party newspaper, published what looked like a rare opinion column by a foreigner, NBA star LeBron James. In it, he praised basketball as a cultural bridge between countries. The problem: James never wrote it.

James had been talking to Chinese reporters while on a trip there, and the newspaper turned those comments into an essay with his name on it. Being depicted as the author of a piece in People’s Daily, the voice of the ruling party, is no small matter; it suggested that James was endorsing Beijing’s message at a time of deep tensions with Washington.

Los Angeles Laker star LeBron James. Credit: Getty Images

For Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, that crossed a line. “Taking words somebody said and then making it seem as a fi

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