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LeBron James Says Daryl Morey’s Hong Kong Tweet Was ‘Misinformed’

“Even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that,” he said.

LeBron James said he believed Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” before he sent a tweet in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists. The since-deleted tweet drew an angry response to the NBA from China last week—while James and the Los Angeles Lakers were in China. “I believe he was either misinformed or not educated on the situation,” James said before a preseason game Monday night. He added said that would be up to the league office if Morey should be punished, but said that he believed Morey was acting selfishly. “So many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually,” James said. “Be careful what we tweet, what we say, what we do. Even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that.” Chinese companies pulled their sponsorships, the NBA canceled media events, and stations canceled local broadcasts of the games between the Lakers and the Nets after Morey tweeted a photo with the slogan “Fight for freedom, stand for Hong Kong.”