Golden State Warriors star point guard Stephen Curry can welcome head coach Steve Kerr to the “got criticized by Donald Trump club.”
Trump called out Kerr and San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich over their response to the China controversy.
So now, Curry and Kerr have even more in common than before. The Warriors clearly don't care what Trump thinks of them, though.
Steph Curry on the Donald Trump tweet at Kerr and the evolving situation between the NBA and China pic.twitter.com/BTBG4Jt6JS
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 9, 2019
Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey voiced support on Twitter for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Morey deleted the tweet, while Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta posted a strong rebuke of Morey’s statement on Twitter.
However, a lot of damage has already been done because of Morey’s tweet.
U.S. Senator Josh Hawley wrote a letter asking NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to cancel exhibition games in China. The Los Angeles Lakers' NBA Cares event in Shanghai was canceled hours before it was set to begin on Wednesday as well.
As of February 2018, NBA China was valued at more than $4 billion ($133 million in value for each of the 30 teams), according to Mike Ozanian of Forbes. The NBA signed a five-year, $700 million deal back in 2015 with Tencent — a Chinese multinational conglomerate holding company — to carry NBA games in China.
The league signed an extension in Tencent in July of 2019 worth $1.5 billion over five years.
Because of Morey’s tweet, the NBA’s relationship with China is now up in the air. Adam Silver said on Monday the NBA has already felt a substantial economic impact from Morey’s tweet.
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