Morey's tweet, now deleted, read "Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong ”. So began the complicated history between the Houston team and the Chinese state and since then it has taken several turns.
First, both Morey and the NBA went out as an organization, saying that the tweet does not represent the Rockets or the league. Despite this, Chinese companies went to the ceiling and, among other things, a sportswear brand and a news site boycotted the team.
Today, the NBA also went out on its social media and took a stand on the issue, but the message on the Chinese account and the English-language account were not identical.
On the Chinese account, they were "very disappointed" and called Morey's tweet "inappropriate". It was also written that it "wounded the Chinese supporters".
The English-language version does not say anything about hurt feelings or that the tweet was "inappropriate", instead they called the tweet "regrettable" and that Morey's views offended many in China.
Several US lawmakers have criticized the NBA for giving up on Chinese censorship and Rockets big star James Harden has also commented on the situation:
- We apologize. We love China and we love to play there. We appreciate them as a supporter crowd and we love everything about them, he said as he stood with the team's other star Russell Westbrook at a training session in Tokyo today.