The NBA as a platform for political rhetoric: The case of Daryl Morey, Hong Kong and the Chinese government

This essay introduces additional insights to literature which examines a social media post by Daryl Morey; a general manger of a National Basketball Association (NBA) franchise who on October 4, 2019 published a graphic which professed support for a protest movement occurring in Hong Kong and has sparked retaliation from Chinese business and government entities against the NBA. I first evaluate the NBA as a sports league which permits its actors to speak about political issues to contextualize and highlight Morey’s action of publishing this graphic. I then examine the NBA’s history in China to reveal potential ideological incongruities between the American-based NBA and Chinese government. Finally, I detail the polarizing convictions about the Chinese government’s jurisdiction over Hong Kong and the visceral discourse surrounding the severity of Morey’s tweet to scrutinize the contentious opinions about his action domestically (United States) and internationally.