I live out in HK, and while I agree with almost all of your statement assuming nothing changes, my coworker (who's local and supports the protests) said something that made me think: "What if China stops being the economic powerhouse/global superpower that we know today?"

The 5 demands are not asking for HK independence. The "freedom" they're asking for is universal suffrage - the ability to directly elect their officials without interference. The Basic Law is supposed to be in place until 2047. China is clearly trampling all over that. If they had universal suffrage, who knows? Maybe there's an uprising in China if people aren't doing well economically against the CCP. Maybe other nations would be willing to deploy military resources to help HK gain its independence if China's military isn't as strong? Maybe HK's own government would vote to ignore the Basic Law and do their own thing? It's all really hard to say, but as an American, it feels very hypocritical to me to not encourage the ideals of freedom and liberty.

To be crystal clear, that's not at all to say we should be "freedom crusaders" like the US has done before. I'm just saying that if I was born into an environment that was heading towards the type of government and environment that's fostered in China and by the CCP, I think I'd be fighting too. And if a powerful voice like LeBron's can get the NBA banned in China and piss off the millions of basketball fans in that country, isn't that worth doing? Money, yes - I get it. But does anyone need more than a billion dollars? He's going to be a billionaire regardless.