• On Friday, the Houston Rockets’ general manager, Daryl Morey, published a tweet supporting protests in Hong Kong.
  • Morey was criticized by people in China, where the protests are unpopular, and several Chinese companies suspended operations with the Rockets and the NBA, which has devoted significant resources to growing basketball in the country.
  • While Morey apologized, the NBA released a statement acknowledging that Morey’s tweet might have offended Chinese citizens.
  • The NBA has since been criticized in the political sphere and the sports world as moving to appease the Chinese government while caring more about the league’s bottom line.
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The NBA finds itself in the midst of an international controversy that began with a tweet.

On Friday, in a since-deleted tweet, the Houston Rockets’ general manager, Daryl Morey, tweeted an image that said: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” The tweeted featured the symbol of Stand With Hong Kong, an activist group that has been behind calls for foreign government intervention in Hong Kong amid escalating protests.

Morey’s tweet drew criticism from social-media users in China, where the protests are unpopular.

In response, the Chinese Basketball Association, whose president is the former Rockets center Yao Ming, announced it was suspending its relationship with the team. Several Chinese companies, including the state broadcaster China Central Television and the livestreaming platform Tencent Sports, announced they would not broadcast Rockets games.

According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, the CBA canceled a planned G League game between the Rockets' affiliate - the Rio Grande Valley Vipers - and the Texas Legends.

The response from China hits the league hard. According to Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, the NBA signed a five-year deal with Tencent in June worth at least $500 million. China has been one of the league's growing markets, with nearly 500 million viewers watching NBA games on Tencent last season. The NBA has invested time and money into growing the Chinese fan base. The Oklahoma City Thunder, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Brooklyn Nets are all set to play preseason games in China over the next week.

The Rockets' owner, Tilman Fertitta, responded in a tweet saying that Morey's views didn't represent the Rockets and that the organization was nonpolitical.

Morey also issued an apology on Twitter, saying: "I did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China. I was merely voicing one thought, based on one interpretation, of one complicated event."

The Brooklyn Nets' owner, Joe Tsai, also released a lengthy response on Facebook, explaining and at times perhaps echoing the perspective of Chinese fans who were offended by Morey's tweet. "The hurt that this incident has caused will take a long time to repair," he said.

Read more: An NBA executive is facing major backlash in China after tweeting support for the Hong Kong protests

It is the NBA's response to the issue, however, that has drawn criticism from the sports and political worlds alike.

The NBA issued a statement Sunday saying that while Morey's tweet might have offended Chinese citizens, the league hoped sports could unify people.

A Twitter user named Yiqin Fu first noticed, however, that the league's statement on the Chinese social-media app Weibo appeared to be different from the English version.

https://twitter.com/yiqinfu/status/1181024883272114180?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

The New York Times' Sopan Deb tweeted that The New York Times also found a different translation. According to Deb, the NBA said that there should be no discrepancy between the statements and that the league stood by the English statement.

https://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1181048427058208768?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfwhttps://twitter.com/SopanDeb/status/1181074199227572224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

In the wake of the NBA's statements, several politicians criticized the league as moving to appease the Chinese government to protect its bottom line.

Many in the sports world jumped in on the criticisms, too.

Dan Wolken of USA Today brought up Enes Kanter, who has an arrest warrant in Turkey because of his criticisms of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Kanter has not returned to Turkey for fear of being targeted by supporters of Erdogan.

"The league is a strong supporter of its players and coaches taking stands on social issues, yet punts on its own opportunity to back an executive taking a position on one," Mannix wrote, adding: "The league supports the causes of its members … just not ones that impact the bottom line."

With several Chinese basketball teams playing preseason games in the US and LeBron James, one of the world's biggest sports stars, heading to China for a preseason game, the matter - which some are already calling the biggest crisis of Commissioner Adam Silver's tenure - is unlikely to die down soon.