Daryl Morey Thought Hong Kong Tweet Might End His Career In NBA

Daryl Morey was concerned his tweet supporting Hong Kong in October of 2019 could have led to him never working in the NBA again.

“In the last 12 months, I had moments where I thought I might never work in the NBA again, for reasons I was willing to go down for,” Morey told ESPN while discussing his new role with the 76ers. “But I love working, I love what I do, and I didn’t want that to happen.”

Morey had befriended a number of Hong Kong residents while attending business school and had intimate knowledge of the challenges they faced living in a semi-autonomous country. Morey’s decision to tweet his support was a conscious effort to express his solidarity for people he knew well.

Asked months later if he regrets his decision to support the protests in Hong Kong, Morey paused for several seconds before responding, “I’m very comfortable with what I did.”

At one point, Morey became concerned for the safety of his wife and two children following the tweet.

“I was actually really, really worried about that,” Morey said. He declined to elaborate on the specific threats. “Luckily I had [access to] different people who were assisting me with that and giving me advice on how to handle it,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ve been able to get where we have some level of safety.

“But I was extremely concerned. You don’t want the second-most powerful government on Earth mad at you, if you can avoid it. In this case, I couldn’t.”

Morey stepped down as general manager of the Houston Rockets in October and was soon thereafter hired by the Philadelphia 76ers.