Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang. /Photo from official website of the Foreign Affairs Ministry
Geng Shuang, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, has made it clear that the Chinese government never asked the NBA to fire Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver attended the Time 100 Summit on Thursday and talked about the ongoing fallout between China and the league.
"We made clear that we were being asked to fire him, by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business. We said there's no chance that's happening. There's no chance we'll even discipline him," said Silver.
A reporter asked Geng if he can confirm Silver's remarks at the FM press conference on Friday.
"I read the news via media reports before I went to verify it with related agencies. It turned out that the Chinese government has never made such a request," said Geng.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. /VCG Photo
Silver admitted that the fallout has already cost the league heavily. "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."
On October 4, Morey expressed his support for protesters in Hong Kong via a tweet, but soon deleted it. In the following days, Silver tried to distance the NBA from Morey's behavior but neither made any apology. As a result, the China Media Group (CMG) suspended partnership with the league, China's state-owned sports TV channel CCTV-5 removed all NBA-related content and multiple Chinese companies also cut their funding partnership with the NBA.