by Ryan Duvall ‘21

On Friday October 4, Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey posted a tweet that changed the NBA’s relationship with China. “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong,” said Morey. The tweet upset the Chinese Government as it was directly showing support for the Hong Kong protesters. In response, NBA commissioner Adam Silver backed up Morey’s tweet, saying it was freedom of expression. This immediately led to the NBA facing punishment from China.

The Hong Kong protests started in June, after proposals to allow extradition in mainland China. Up until 1997, Hong Kong was a British Colony, but since China took rule, the people have been given less rights than they had previously. Even after the bill was suspended, protests began as the citizens of Hong Kong wanted an independent inquiry into police brutality, arrested protesters to be releaseased, among other things, but progressively the protests have become more and more violent. Now, the police are using live bullets and the protesters are battling back with petrol bombs.

Chinese sponsors quickly began to cut ties with the Rockets and the NBA. Some of those sponsors included shoe company, Anta, and the digital partner of the league, Tencent. Just two days after this, the NBA responded with a statement of its own, but this time the league upset its fans in America, along with many American Government officials. In its statement, the NBA made it sound like it was distancing itself from the stance of Morey, while many Americans hoped they would have stood up for his freedom of expression. 

Multiple Rockets players and front office members began to apologize for Morey’s actions, including the likes of the team’s owner Tilman Fertitta and superstar James Harden. However, Harden was not the only superstar to speak out. After a preseason game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets that took place in China was unaired with no media members present, Lakers superstar and the face of the league, LeBron James, spoke out on the situation. “I just think that when you’re misinformed or you’re not educated about something … and I’m just talking about the tweet itself … you never know the ramifications that can happen. We all see what that did …  not only for our league but for all of us in America, for people in China as well,” said James, who is usually very outspoken and progressive when it comes to politics and social justice. 

The conflict has extended to the kickoff of the NBA’s regular season. Even though an NBA spokesman said “No Politics” when it came to the games on Tuesday, fans sold t-shirts that supported the protests outside the Staples Center, the home of the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers. Meanwhile in China, the opening games were not broadcasted.