“The long-held values of the NBA are to support freedom of expression,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said today. However, he also says there are “consequences” of exercising free speech.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is not apologizing for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's since-deleted tweet showing support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
OAKLAND, CA - MAY 31: Commissioner Adam Silver of the NBA addresses the media before Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals at ORACLE Arena on May 31, 2018 in Oakland, California.NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is not apologizing for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's since-deleted tweet showing support for anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, even after China's state broadcaster canceled plans to show a pair of preseason games in that country later this week.
Among those consequences: CCTV said it would not show the games between the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets, who will play Thursday in Shanghai and Saturday in Shenzhen. Basketball is wildly popular in China and those two teams — largely because of LeBron James starring for the Lakers and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's co-founder Joe Tsai now owning the Nets — would have almost certainly been a huge television draw.
Silver is going to Shanghai on Wednesday and said he hopes to meet with officials and some of the league's business partners there in an effort to find some sort of common ground. He said he hopes Chinese officials and fans look at the totality of the impact of the three-decade-plus relationship between the league and their country, and urged them to see his response while acknowledging there are political differences between the countries.
This rift between China and the NBA started late last week when Morey tweeted a now-deleted image that read "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong," in reference to months of pro-democracy demonstrations in the semiautonomous Chinese territory that has been mired in escalating violence between protesters and law enforcement.
"I'm hoping that together Yao Ming and I can find an accommodation," Silver said. "But he is extremely hot at the moment, and I understand it."
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