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Daryl Morey’s Hong Kong Tweet Has Put His Rockets GM Job in Limbo – The Ringer, Theringer.com

Daryl Morey’s Hong Kong Tweet Has Put His Rockets GM Job in Limbo – The Ringer, Theringer.com


  

The Houston Rockets suddenly find themselves in the middle of a geopolitical controversy that could put their chief front-office executive’s job in jeopardy. After general manager Daryl Morey expressed support in a since-deleted tweet forpro-democracy efforts in Hong Kong, the Chinese government, the Chinese Basketball Association, and various Chinese businesses quickly denounced Morey and moved to sever ties with the Rockets. As a consequence, league sources toldThe Ringerthat Rockets ownership has debated Morey’s employment status and whether to replace him.

On Sunday, the Chinese Basketball Associationissued a statementonWeibo– a Chinese social media platform akin to Twitter — and expressed its “strong opposition” to what it called Morey’s “improper remarks regarding Hong Kong.” As a result, the CBA said it was suspending “exchanges and cooperation “With the Rockets. The Chinese Consulate in Houston alsoissued a statementsaying it was “deeply shocked” by Morey’s “erroneous comments” and expressed “strong dissatisfaction.” The consulate also urged the Rockets to “correct the error and take immediate concrete measures to eliminate the adverse impact.”

Morey and the Rockets are currently in Tokyo as part of the NBA’s slate of preseason games in Asia. Representatives for the Rockets did not immediately reply to questions via email, and attempts to reach Morey for comment were unsuccessful.

So what exactly happened?

On Friday evening, Morey tweeted and then quickly deleted an image that said “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” That promptedRockets owner Tilman Fertitta to publicly rebuke Morey.

What’s the relationship between China and Hong Kong at the moment?

Extremely strained. Hong Kong is a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China. Hong Kong has operated as a semiautonomous state with certain political and economic freedoms under the“one country, two systems”policy . Tensions increased in part over the summer whena highly controversial legislative measurewas introduced that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited from Hong Kong to the mainland. At the time, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam claimed the bill would help the territory protect human rights, while opponents said it would undermine Hong Kong’s legal independence. Critics of the legislation said it could be used to pursue political opponents of the mainland government with murky perceived offenses in order to silence or,according to the Associated Press, disappear them in a system where “the vast majority of criminal trials end in conviction.” As a result, pro-democracy protestors and police haveclashed for months, in increasingly chaotic scenes.

What’s the Rockets ’relationship with China?

Previously, excellent.According to a recent survey, the Rockets were the second-most popular team in China. That’s no surprise, given the fact that Hall of Famer Yao Ming played for the Rockets and helped exponentially grow the sport’s popularity in the country. But Yao is now the chair of the Chinese Basketball Association, which criticized Morey inits statementfor making “an inappropriate comment related to Hong Kong” and said it “strongly opposes” the general manager’s remarks. At the moment, it seems unlikely that Yao will act as a mediator in the dispute between Morey, the Rockets, and the Chinese.

What’s the functional impact to the Rockets?

In addition to the CBA suspending cooperation with the Rockets, at least two other sponsors — sportswear brand Li-Ning and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (SPDB) —also announced they were halting their relationships with the organization,according to Reuters. A former Rocketsreporter tweetedthat SPDB would “stop all marketing and promotion activities related to the Rockets. ”

In an even bigger blow to the franchise and the league, Tencent — the NBA digital rights holder in China— “announced ablacklist of Daryl Moreydue to his’ Free HK ‘tweet ”and said it would“ suspend all reports / streaming ”of the Houston Rockets. Tencent is now offering a“switch home teams”option for fans who bought a single-team pass to watch Rockets games.

In July,Tencent and the NBA announced“a five-year expansion of their existing partnership” that would keep them in business through 2024 – 25 season. According to the release, nearly 500 million Chinese fans watched NBA games on Tencent platforms — which was up almost threefold from the 2014 – 15 season — while 21 million Chinese fans watched Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals through the service.

What’s the NBA’s position here?

The league has yet to release an official statement, but a spokesperson indicated one would be issued in short order. In the interim, it’s safe to assume the league is not pleased that one of its most popular franchises in China has gotten into a messy public dispute with one of its biggest business partners. The potential political and financial fallout here is massive. One league source called it “not a small thing” while another declared it “an epic screwup.”

Where does all this leave Morey?

On thin ice. Morey is an incredibly bright guy, but after asking around it’s clear that he did not anticipate that his tweet would spark an international incident. From what I was told, Morey has friends in Hong Kong and was concerned with their safety, in light of the Chinese government’s ongoing attempts to restrict freedom of speech and assembly in their fight with Hong Kong over the extradition bill. Morey did what he thought was right, but his actions had significant unintended consequences.

Fertitta told ESPNthat he has “the best general manager in the league” and that “Everything is fine with Daryl and me.” But the Rockets owner also admitted that the organization has gotten “a huge backlash” as a result of Morey’s tweet. League sources told me that Rockets ownership has “absolutely discussed” whether Morey should be removed as general manager in an attempt to mitigate the fallout, appease the Chinese government and business interests, and reestablish ties. League sources also indicated that Morey is aware that those discussions have happened and is bracing for that possibility. As one league source put it, this has become “an international issue” that’s “way bigger” than Morey.

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