Houston Rockets games continue to be banned from Chinese airwaves, as Game 1 of the NBA's Western Conference semifinals tiff pitting the team against the Los Angeles Lakers will also not be airing in the country on Friday.
Tencent, China's official national broadcaster and NBA partner, has elected not to show the highly-anticipated series due to the repercussions of Rockets GM Daryl Morey's controversial tweet back in October.
The latest word as Game 1 nears is that Lakers vs. Rockets — normally as big as it gets in China for the NBA — will not be broadcast tonight via the country's official national broadcaster (CCTV) or Tencent. Rockets games, of course, have been banned from Chinese TV all season
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 5, 2020
In a now-deleted tweet, Morey bared his support for the pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong by writing “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong”. China, of course, is one of the league's largest Asian market. The NBA quickly had to do damage control in order to preserve relations between the two parties after China threatened to cut ties.
While the sides came to reconciliation, it wasn't without some lasting repercussions. Tencent agreed to continue airing games from 29 NBA teams and has decided to discontinue showing matches involving the Rockets. They also took out all Rockets-related merchandise from their stores.
It is worth noting that the Rockets was initially one of the most popular and beloved NBA teams in China ever since they drafted the country's premier basketball star Yao Ming first overall in the 2002 draft. Houston's popularity in China continued long after Yao retired, as the Rockets usually participated in preseason games in China.
In fact, the Rockets were actually traveling in Asia around the time Morey tweeted his controversial take. Houston was set to face the Toronto Raptors at the Saitama Super Arena in Japan.
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