China Asked the NBA to Fire Daryl Morey Over Hong Kong Tweet, Adam Silver Says

While speaking at Time 100 Health Summit on Thursday, Silver says he refused the demands and the NBA will not slap Morey on the wrist with disciplinary action, according to Shanghaiist.

 

“We made clear that we were being asked to fire him, by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business,” Silver said. “We said there’s no chance that’s happening. There’s no chance we’ll even discipline him.”

Silver, however, failed to elaborate on how the Chinese government got involved in the request to fire Morey, but Chinese internet users and the media have vocally expressed their desire to sack the Houston general manager.

In the conversation, Silver noted the league has been dealing with the fallout of the events between the NBA and China.

“The losses have already been substantial. Our games are not back on the air in China as we speak, and we’ll see what happens next,” he said. “I don’t know where we go from here. The financial consequences have been and may continue to be fairly dramatic.”

Featured Image Screenshot via YouTube / TIME (Left), Instagram / darylmorey (Right)