Adam Silver Issues Statement on NBA's Relationship with China, Regulating Speech

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver released a statement Tuesday regarding the league's stance on China and whether it supports those within the NBA who criticize the country's politics:

Most notably, Silver said the NBA will not regulate what people associated with the league can and cannot say about China:

"It is inevitable that people around the world—including from America and China—will have different viewpoints over different issues.  It is not the role of the NBA to adjudicate those differences.

"However, the NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say on these issues. We simply could not operate that way."

China's CCTV released an opposing statement Tuesday:

Silver's comments came on the heels of Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posting a tweet Saturday that read, "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong," before deleting it.

Morey's tweet was in reference to recent demonstrations in Hong Kong protesting against the Fugitive Offenders amendment bill, which would allow authorities in Hong Kong to extradite fugitives to China despite Hong Kong not having an extradition agreement with China.

Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China, but Hong Kong's autonomy could be threatened by the passing of the bill.

On Sunday, Morey tweeted again and clarified that he didn't mean to offend anyone associated with China:

Morey's comments came ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets playing a pair of preseason games in China this week. Meanwhile, the Rockets are in Japan for two games with the Toronto Raptors.

Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta made it clear that Morey's tweet was not endorsed by the Rockets organization in any way:

On Monday, Rockets stars James Harden and Russell Westbrook showed support for Chinese basketball fans during a press conference in Tokyo:

The Rockets have had a strong relationship with China dating back to the team's selection of Yao Ming with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft.

That relationship is now in peril, as it was announced that Rockets games would no longer air in China and that Chinese sponsors would no longer back the Rockets.

The Chinese Basketball Association announced it would distance itself from Morey as well because of "incorrect comments."