How the NBA wound up in the middle of the Hong Kong movement

Daryl Morey.
(Image credit: USA TODAY USPW/Reuters)

Like so many things nowadays, it began with a tweet.

Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, expressed his support for the anti-Beijing protest movement in Hong Kong on the social media platform Friday; he quickly deleted the tweet, but the damage was done.

The Chinese Basketball Association, which is chaired by former Houston Rockets star Yao Ming, announced Sunday it would suspend cooperation with the Rockets, and the team's partnerships with other Chinese businesses were also damaged. There was reportedly talk that Morey, who apologized, could lose his job. The Rockets are one of the most popular teams in China, a country that has fallen in love with the NBA, so Houston's ownership clearly values that market.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

As does the league as a whole. The NBA released a statement Sunday evening explaining their stance on Morey's comments.

See more

The New York Times also provided a translation of the statement the league sent to China, which was even harsher on Morey, calling his tweet "inappropriate" and acknowledging that he "seriously hurt the feelings of Chinese basketball fans."

The early reactions to the NBA's initial response were often critical, with several people arguing that the league was acting hypocritically, and that it has often ignored human rights abuses in China in favor of maintaining its fan base there.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.