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Daryl Morey got the 2019-20 NBA season off to a rocky start when he tweeted his support for Hong Kong protesters ahead of the Houston Rockets’ international preseason trip.
The tweet, a photo that read "Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong," splintered the NBA’s ties with China, as the Communist regime quickly took down advertising of a two-game exhibition tour for the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets and blacked out games on state television.
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Morey had no real allies until months later, when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert spoke out about Uighur Muslims.
Morey told ESPN in a story published Wednesday he wasn’t tweeting out of jest. He said he knew the situation in Hong Kong well because of friends he had that were over there.
"I’m very comfortable with what I did," the current Philadelphia 76ers general manager said.
He said at the time of the backlash he was fearful for his family.
"Luckily I had [access to] different people who were assisting me with that and giving me advice on how to handle it," he said. "Hopefully, I've been able to get where we have some level of safety."
"But I was extremely concerned. You don’t want the second-most powerful government on Earth mad at you, if you can avoid it. In this case, I couldn’t," Morey added.
The NBA’s reaction to Morey’s tweet reached Vice President Mike Pence, who said last October the league was acting like a "wholly owned subsidiary of China."
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Morey and the Rockets parted ways after the 2019-20 season was eventually over. He would later join the 76ers’ front office.
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