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Game over? Meet the Chinese NBA fans calling time out over Daryl Morey’s Hong Kong tweet
- ‘In a country where people are very sensitive to politics, such remarks can’t just be ignored,’ Beijinger says as he turns his back on 30 years of devotion to American basketball
- ‘It’s my loss and their loss, but we can’t support the NBA any more,’ says another as he puts his country ahead of his beloved Lakers
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Zhuang Pinghuiin Beijing
As a teenager Sun Qiang was crazy about the NBA and had no qualms about skipping classes so he could get home in time to watch the games that were broadcast every Tuesday on state television.
There were no dedicated sports channels in China in those days and the matches were mostly recorded, but the young fan from Beijing couldn’t get enough of his beloved basketball.
Whenever he could he bought newspapers and magazines so he could read about his favourite players and teams.
But now, at 43 and with China the biggest market for the NBA outside the United States – an average of 7 million Chinese watched each televised game last season – Sun’s passion for the game has been shaken to its core, and all because of a tweet from a team official.
On October 4, Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, posted an image on Twitter saying “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong” in reference to the protests that have been raging in the city for the past four months.
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