NBA boss Adam Silver says Chinese government asked him to fire Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey

In his first interview since returning to the US, Adam Silver clarifies a number of positions about the NBA’s crisis with China

Silver reveals that Chinese government officials asked him to fire Morey who sent out a tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters

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NBA commissioner Adam Silver said the loses “have already been substantial” in the fallout. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:22am, 18 Oct 2019Updated: 9:47am, 18 Oct 2019

NBA commissioner Adam Silver revealed in his first interview since returning to the United States that Chinese government officials tried to pressure him into firing Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey after he tweeted support for the Hong Kong protesters.

“We were being asked to fire him by the Chinese government,” said Silver, while being interviewed for the TIME 100 Health Summit in New York. “We said there’s no chance that’s happening. There’s no chance we’ll even discipline him.”

Silver also clarified that they did not intend for people to misinterpret the NBA’s statement that Morey’s tweet was “regrettable” which was widely publicised, but that the word was in relation to their Chinese fans and China in general in response to the tweet and the damage it could do.

Hong Kong has been rocked by more than four months of increasingly violent anti-government protests, sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill.

Silver added the NBA is “not only willing” to cope with expected losses of millions in revenues, “but we are. 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”.