NBA team executive was ‘really, really worried’ about family’s safety after tweet supporting protests in Hong Kong

Former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey said he was “really, really worried” about his family’s safety after his tweet in support of Hong Kong protesters last year.

Morey, who is now president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers, told ESPN in an interview that he was concerned about the safety of his wife and two children after the tweet.

“I was actually really, really worried about that,” Morey said. “Luckily I had [access to] different people who were assisting me with that and giving me advice on how to handle it. … Hopefully, I’ve been able to get where we have some level of safety.”

“But I was extremely concerned,” he further said. “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.”

The NBA came under fire in October after Morey tweeted “Flight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” Demonstrators were protesting a law allowing suspected criminals to be extradited to China.

Hours after the tweet, Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta attempted to distance the organization from Morey’s comment, and the NBA said it recognized that the comments “have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.”

LeBron James said at the time that Morey “wasn’t educated on the situation at hand,” ESPN notes. Morey actually befriended Hong Kong residents while in business school and knew of the situation, the news outlet notes.

China Central Television began airing NBA games again in October following a one-year ban due to the league’s assistance in helping China fight the coronavirus pandemic.