Daryl Morey, former general manager of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, uploaded a picture on Twitter last October in support of Hong Kong’s anti-revision movement, which created a storm. He recently recalled the incident in an interview and confessed that he was worried about the safety of his family after the incident broke out and once thought his NBA career was over, but he said he did not regret the decision to support the Hong Kong protesters.
In an interview with Entertainment and Sports Television (ESPN), Murray noted, “I’ve had moments in the last 12 months where I thought I might never work in the NBA again, for reasons that I’m willing to pay for.” Murray told ESPN while discussing his new role with the 76ers, and said, “But I love the job, I love my job, and I don’t want that to happen.”
After Murray tweeted about the anti-revision movement last year, some NBA stars and Rockets officials issued successive statements expressing regret, emphasizing that Murray’s “inappropriate comments were primarily a personal expression of free speech” and had nothing to do with the team, in an attempt to placate official opinion in China. In response to the controversy caused by the incident, NBA superstar James (LeBron James) then when asked whether Murray should be punished, he said he did not want to get into a “verbal dispute” with Murray, but he thought Murray “did not know enough about the situation to speak “. James said, “So many people have the potential to be hurt, not just financially, but also physically, emotionally, and mentally.”
The statements of James and others have also been vocalized by public opinion, media and politicians in the United States, criticizing them for self-censorship in the face of profit, and the hypocrisy of their usual preaching on the topic of American civil rights. What James didn’t know was that Murray had befriended some Hong Kong residents while attending MIT Business School and had a deep understanding of the challenges they faced living there, ESPN reported. The report said Murray’s decision to tweet his support was not hasty or uninformed, but a conscious show of solidarity with those he knew well.
Months after the incident, when asked in an interview if he regretted his decision to support the Hong Kong protests, Murray paused for a few seconds before replying, “I’m very comfortable with what I did.” Nonetheless, Murray never expected his tweets to spark such a sharp storm. Murray said he was at one point seriously worried about the safety of his wife and two children, according to information provided to him. “I was actually really, really worried,” Murray said. He declined to elaborate on the specific threat. “Fortunately, I have (contact) with different people who are assisting me and giving me advice on how to handle it,” he said, adding that, hopefully, I’ve been able to get to the point where we have some level of safety.
Murray said, “But I’m very concerned. You don’t want the second most powerful government on the planet to be mad at you if you can avoid it. In this case, I can’t do that.” On the evening of Oct. 4, 2019, U.S. time, Murray posted a tweet on his personal Twitter account in support of Hong Kong’s anti-revisionist protest movement that read, “Fighting for freedom, with Hong Kong.” Shortly after, Murray deleted the tweet from his Twitter feed, including a tweet criticizing U.S. President Donald Trump that was kept next to it.
In response to Morey’s comments, Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta tweeted, “Morey does not represent the Houston Rockets,” and later tweeted, “Morey is a good manager and the team has nothing to do with politics.” The team has nothing to do with politics. During the controversy, NBA President Adam Silver said on Oct. 8 last year, “I do know there are consequences to free speech; we will have to live with those consequences.” He continued, “For those who question our motives, it’s far more important than growing our business.” The NBA estimates that the league has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue as a result of the controversy. However, the Rockets have been adamant about retaining Morey, despite repeated calls from Chinese officials to fire him after the incident.
Morey departed from the Rockets on Oct. 15 of this year. He said he chose to voluntarily resign in order to spend time with his family. A spokesman for the official CCTV sports channel responded by saying, “Any attempt to hurt the feelings of the Chinese people will have to pay the price. I hope Mr. Morey has a good journey.” Morey then agreed to a five-year contract with another NBA team, the 76ers, and became the team’s president of basketball affairs.
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