The Houston Rockets have ‘no discipline' planned for general manager Daryl Morey amid the backlash from the team's Chinese fans.
Per Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Rockets' have refuted a previous report which noted that Morey's post as the team's general manager may be in jeopardy.
Two sources with knowledge of the Rockets' ownership thinking strongly refute the Ringer report indicating that the GM Daryl Morey's job is in jeopardy as a result of the Hong Kong tweet-China situation. That being said, it's undeniably a mess.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) October 6, 2019
In addition, per Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Rockets have no intention of imposing a sanction on Morey.
Echoing what @sam_amick just tweeted, one source with knowledge of the situation tells @NYTSports that Houston has "no discipline" planned for Rockets GM Daryl Morey in the wake of this weekend's Hong Kong/China Twitter controversy
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) October 7, 2019
Morey and the Rockets are now under fire by its Chinese fans after the former sent out a once-deleted tweet in support of the Hong Kong protests.
The tweet featured an image that stated: “fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.” Morey was referring to the spate of protests in Hong Kong against the legislative measure that would allow criminal suspects to be extradited from Hong Kong to the mainland. The protests have turned violent and Chinese citizens still remain in support of the said measure.
Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta reproached Morey via Twitter, noting that Morey’s opinions are his own and they are not a political organization. He did not say whether or not Morey will be reprimanded for his actions. Chinese fans have prodded the Rockets to get rid of Morey or they'll pull out their support for the team.
Listen….@dmorey does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets. Our presence in Tokyo is all about the promotion of the @NBA internationally and we are NOT a political organization. @espn https://t.co/yNyQFtwTTi
— Tilman Fertitta (@TilmanJFertitta) October 5, 2019
As such, Morey will likely remain as the team's general manager. But the question still remains: how will this affect the relationship between the Rockets and China — one of the largest markets of the NBA outside the US?
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