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Agence France-Presse

Chinese basketball great and NBA legend Yao Ming said on Thursday that there was “no way” sports could “hide” from politics, though he cautioned for the need to avoid it.
Speaking in Beijing during a panel discussion on sports in the context of US-China relations, Yao was asked about politics in reference to a 2019 incident when then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for the anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
Yao, a former Rockets centre, said “there’s no way we can hide” from politics.
But “as people who were in this industry, we should understand better what is ‘in’ the game, and what is ‘out’ and we will do our best and try to avoid [politics]”, Yao said.
China is home to a huge basketball fan base, but it has not hosted an NBA game in five years since two 2019 preseason contests were played in controversy following Morey’s comments.
The NBA subsequently lost hundreds of millions of dollars as a result of being taken off Chinese television until 2022.
Yao said that what happened in 2019 was an “instant accident” and Morey stepped “into a minefield that he was not really familiar with”.
“So the minefield is there, but … we should help each other to cross it,” Yao said.
When asked if he thought NBA games would make a return to China soon, Yao – who quit as the Chinese Basketball Association head last month after seven years in the job – said he was “not in control” any more and could not answer.
“But I can tell you that basketball is very popular in China, with all ages, whether played on court, or just watched from a TV,” Yao said.
“The fans love to see all kind of basketball games.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in October that he expected his league to once more play games in China, according to multiple media reports.


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Sport

Basketball

Yao was asked about a 2019 incident when Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted support for the anti-government protests in Hong Kong


Yao was asked about a 2019 incident when Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted support for the anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
