NBA: Chinese basketball fans delighted after Hong Kong-tweeting Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey quits
- Fans speculate his resignation must be connected to CCTV Sports’ decision to resume coverage of NBA Finals between LA Lakers and Miami Heat
- The general manager’s tweet last year supporting Hong Kong protesters caused huge rift in China-NBA relations
Morey became one of the most hated figures in mainland Chinese basketball after he showed his support for Hong Kong protesters in a tweet a year ago.
Hong Kong-tweeting NBA Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey steps down
Many fans speculated that Morey’s resignation was connected to CCTV Sports’ decision to resume coverage of the NBA, beginning with the broadcast of game five of last week’s Finals between the LA Lakers and Miami Heat.
Last Saturday, the state-run broadcaster suddenly showed the game, one year after it pulled all NBA games from its programming in the wake of Morey’s tweet, in which he posted an image reading “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong” – a slogan used by pro-democracy protesters. It was swiftly deleted but the damage was already done.
Other basketball fans said the Rockets had felt the pain of losing access to the massive China market due to Morey’s “incorrect behaviour” and suggested there must have been behind the scenes negotiations as Morey had signed a five-year contract with the franchise just last year.
NBA returns to Chinese state TV a year after Hong Kong controversy
One post on Sina Sports was headlined “The Day Breaks, Morey has officially quit the Rockets!” while another questioned whether the relationship between the NBA and Chinese fans could return to its previous status after the Morey saga.
A Yahoo Finance report said after the Morey tweet that China was the most significant growth market for the NBA and already accounts for nearly 10 per cent of the league’s global revenue, according to multiple sources. The NBA therefore sees China as crucial to its financial future.
Rockets boss explains Hong Kong tweet – but angry Chinese demand more
The NBA issued a statement after the incident, acknowledging the tweet had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable”.
The statement was seen by many as an apology to China, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver later clarified that it “will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues. We simply could not operate that way”.
Silver has also publicly claimed that the Chinese government asked him to fire Morey, but declared, “There’s no chance that’s happening.”
