China Denies Asking NBA, Adam Silver to Fire Daryl Morey for Hong Kong Tweet

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman refuted a claim Friday by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver that the Chinese government asked him to fire Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey following his tweet in support of Hong Kong's pro-democracy protests.

According to ESPN, Silver said Thursday at the Time 100 Summit in New York City that the NBA was "being asked to fire [Morey] by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business." Silver then added: "We said there's no chance that's happening. There's no chance we'll even discipline him."

In response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the "Chinese government never posed this requirement."

Shortly before the Los Angeles Lakers and Brooklyn Nets played a pair of preseason games in China last week, Morey posted and then deleted a tweet that read: "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong."

The tweet was in reference to recent protests in Hong Kong regarding a bill that would allow suspected criminals to be extradited from Hong Kong to China despite there being no extradition agreement in place. Protesters believe the bill would threaten Hong Kong's autonomy if passed.

In the wake of backlash from China regarding the tweet, including multiple sponsors severing ties with the NBA and Chinese television station CCTV refusing to air the two preseason games, Silver released a statement:

The preseason games in China went ahead as scheduled, but players and coaches were not made available to the media.

During Silver's appearance at the Time 100 Summit, he said: "The losses have already been substantial. Our games are not back on the air in China as we speak, and we'll see what happens next. I don't know where we go from here. The financial consequences have been and may continue to be fairly dramatic."

The NBA has been a huge deal in China ever since the Rockets selected Yao Ming with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 draft, and preseason games have been held in China every year since 2012.