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The Chinese Basketball Association, headed by Yao Ming, has announced that the league will stop working with the Houston Rockets over a tweet sent by Daryl Morey voicing support for protestors in Hong Kong.

Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, announced that they were suspending ties with the Rockets.

Tencent Sport is suspending all broadcasts of Rockets games in China. Tencent signed a $1.5 billion streaming deal over the summer with the league.

Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta distanced the team from any political speech. 

Via Ben Cohen/The Wall Street Journal

If the NBA really cares about human rights, they should demand that games from all teams are carried, or they rip up the contract. But they won't, because they care more about $ than people.

If you won't work with the Rockets, I sure hope no other team is willing to work with you. The NBA doesn't need your money. The players have enough money.

Talk about feeling butthurt... Sheesh. A little sensitive are we?

China has to be the most sensitive and least confident nation ever... the only goddamn time I ever hear one country “requesting another country to correct their error” is with China. What error? What correction? Who are you to tell anyone or any nation their stance is an error? It’s goddamn freedom of speech you nutcrackers.

Weibo, the Chinese equivalent to Twitter, announced that they were suspending ties with the Rockets.

This sounds weird to me.

I could type for a week straight about China if I needed to, but... from everything I've seen, Morey and Fertitta have handled this situation very well. I disagree with Morey deleting the tweet, though. It's a shame about that. But more on that below. His apology, I believe, was carefully worded to look like an apology without actually changing his stance, which I appreciate. Fertitta is right, the Rockets are not a political entity. The NBA is right to say it supports free speech. That's per their official statement as reported by espn.com - I think they used the term "expression," but basically, they meant free speech. So, it looks like the major parties are taking the right public stances. Also I'm thrilled Fertitta was immediately supportive of Morey. I can assure you, he felt the extremest of extreme pressures to fire Morey, and will likely continue to have that pressure directed at him (from Chinese sources and, if those Chinese sources can exert enough indirect pressure on them, from non-Chinese sources). I hope Fertitta, the NBA, and Morey all come through this without losing any of my respect. I'm glad Morey made this such a visible topic by bringing it before the eyes of basketball fans who might not have been aware of the situation in Hong Kong and the PRoC. I would rather have him post the tweet and then delete it than not post it at all, to be honest, as long as he doesn't outright repudiate the tweet.

The fact that the CBA, Tencent, Weibo, and Li-Ning are all pretty much saying they'll immediately cut all ties with the Rockets, jeopardizing billions in mutually beneficial business because of one six-word tweet, should be a clue as to the totalitarian nature of China, in case anyone is wondering. Granted, I can't think of a perfect parallel, but to get some idea, imagine if all four of the NBA, Google, Twitter, and Nike immediately cut all ties with Manchester United and outright refused to broadcast their games because one of its executives posted a tweet that said, "Fight for freedom. 2nd Amendment rights." This only happened because the CBA, Tencent, Weibo, Li-Ning, and every citizen of China and Hong Kong are required under threat of destruction to give undying, unquestioning allegiance to the Chinese Communist Party. Opinions are not allowed in China, unless they're government sanctioned. Heck, opinions outside of China aren't allowed, if the CCP can do anything about it. I suppose the thread lock is coming. But that's how I see things. I just hope the parties involved all come through this with their public integrity still intact. Morey is right. To stand with Hong Kong is to stand on the side of freedom, against the side of tyranny and oppression. I already believed him to be the best GM in the NBA, but if he doesn't go back on his HK stance, my respect for him will have sky-rocketed to virtual hero-level.

This fellow former Wisconsinite is proud of you, Daryl Morey.

Apparently, the Chinese statement from the NBA did not entirely coincide with the English statement. The Chinese statement said the NBA is, “deeply disappointed by the inappropriate remarks.” Ugh. I also have to hope that the NBA's statement on people "educating themselves" was not a veiled threat to Morey to fully apologize or lose his job. And now Harden said "we apologize" in Japan. Truly disgusting. I'm assuming he doesn't know jack about China other than it makes him richer, which is probably all he cares to ever know. Which is sad. Wish he'd at least at the guts to keep quiet. And yes, when China exerts its influence, it takes guts even to remain quiet. This situation is just getting messier and messier, uglier and uglier. I can see scenarios unfolding where this would literally make me boycott the NBA for the rest of my life. I'm just hoping, still, that all parties keep their integrity (though Morey appears to have a lot more of it than anyone else involved) intact. Harden has already lost a lot of my respect just with the words, "we apologize." He has no inkling of what's happening in Hong Kong, clearly. Ugh. I feel sick even thinking about it.

galeon110 wrote:It’s goddamn freedom of speech you nutcrackers.

Not in China. China is the country where the black mirror episode with the social score is not fiction, but reality. No freedom of speech there.

Good on Morey. The rest of the NBA execs should come out and say the same thing. Lets watch the Chinese ban the whole NBA

jk31 wrote:

galeon110 wrote:It’s goddamn freedom of speech you nutcrackers.

Not in China. China is the country where the black mirror episode with the social score is not fiction, but reality. No freedom of speech there.

That's right. There is no freedom of speech in a Communist country. Watch this video of Chinese students at the Hong Kong protests in Australia... they are completely and utterly brainwashed and agreed that If you are a muslim or christian you should be locked away in prison... and that no Chinese people should be allowed to question the Chinese government as then it might mean other chinese people would do the same.

Simmons25 wrote:Good on Morey. The rest of the NBA execs should come out and say the same thing. Lets watch the Chinese ban the whole NBA

I totally agree. Basketball and the NBA has been immensely popular in China. The pressure from such a move might actually have a positive effect. It certainly wouldn't hurt the NBA much to risk losing that portion of the NBA fan base.

galeon110 wrote:China has to be the most sensitive and least confident nation ever... the only goddamn time I ever hear one country “requesting another country to correct their error” is with China. What error? What correction? Who are you to tell anyone or any nation their stance is an error? It’s goddamn freedom of speech you nutcrackers.

Because they don't have a choice. Freedom of speech isn't a thing in China.

Morey deletes tweet. Ahahaha. Talk about spineless and gutless. Protestors and people are fighting in the streets vs the powerful. Morey types a tweet, gets scared off. And deletes his meaningless and powerless words. Said only as a slogan, a cheerleader. And with no true conviction behind them, deletes as any gutless man would do. Ahahahaha. Morey, thats an analytics man for ya. Hide behind a desk of numbers. Afraid of actual consequences.

LAKESHOW wrote:Morey deletes tweet. Ahahaha. Talk about spineless and gutless. Protestors and people are fighting in the streets vs the powerful. Morey types a tweet, gets scared off. And deletes his meaningless and powerless words. Said only as a slogan, a cheerleader. And with no true conviction behind them, deletes as any gutless man would do. Ahahahaha. Morey, thats an analytics man for ya. Hide behind a desk of numbers. Afraid of actual consequences.

Never thought I'd agree with a Lakers fan. But you're spot on. He should've just kept the tweet and not apologized. If you're already biting the hand that feeds you, take accountability for it. The Washington Wizards will be happy to gobble up your desk of numbers and relocate you from Houston.