Daryl Morey's controversial China tweet brought up by Republican Senator questioning NBA's close relationship with foreign state
Daryl Morey found himself in the spotlight despite the fact that the Philadelphia 76ers have been out of the playoff picture for weeks. The president of basketball operations in Philadelphia saw an old tweet of his resurface as part of a Senate hearing on sports broadcasting. More specifically, Morey's tweet was used to try to get to the bottom of the NBA's relationship with China.
Back in 2019, when he was the general manager of the Houston Rockets, Daryl Morey posted a tweet supporting the anti-government group protesting in Hong Kong. His tweet was seen all over the world and cost the NBA millions of dollars in partnerships and broadcasting deals in China.
Daryl Morey spoke about the incident and the potential consequences of it when he joined the 76ers.
"I had moments where I thought I might never work in the NBA again, for reasons I was willing to go down for," Morey said about his choice.
NBA executive Will Koenig found himself answering questions concerning Morey's actions and the efforts of the league to repair their relationship with China. After an investigation conducted by ESPN found that NBA owners have significant investments in the country, Sen. Marsha Blackburn asked Koenig whether or not the league was putting restrictions on themselves to maintain the deal.
Koenig's response was adamant that no such deal was made. He even cited Morey's actions back in 2019 as an example of how the NBA doesn't prevent their employees or executives from speaking their mind, regardless of the financial impact, according to Inquirer writer Rob Tornoe.
“Senator, I can certainly confirm that one of the NBA’s most important values is freedom of speech,” Koeing said. “In fact, the example you cited before of Daryl Morey, he was not disciplined or censored in any way in light of the comments that he made .”
The NBA's relationship with China continues to grow, even after Daryl Morey's controversial message
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has done a good job of growing both the NBA and WNBA during his time at the head of the league. One of the areas he focuses on more than most is the game's global outreach. While the NBA used to be made up solely of American-born players, today's league is more diverse than ever. Daryl Morey and other front office members have access to talent around the world.
With the global popularity of the league comes the opportunity to play games overseas, and China is one of the countries Silver is ready to form a tighter bond with. He has gone as far as to suggest that the league play games there in a future season. Some teams, including the Golden State Warriors, have gone to China to play exhibition and preseason games as part of the NBA's global effort.
While the relationship would generate more revenue for the league and their overseas partners, Silver says that the league is focus on expanding the game, not making money. While he is saying the right things, the U.S. Senate and other governing bodies will be keeping an eye on the NBA as their global expansion efforts continue, looking for tweets like Daryl Morey's that could cause concern.
