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Speaking to the TIME 100 Talks interview, Silver tried to address last year’s flap between China and the NBA when Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey posted a tweet expressing support for democracy in the oppressed Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
After the tweet, the government-controlled Chinese basketball sector in China immediately cut ties with the NBA. But instead of siding with democracy for Hong Kong and supporting Daryl Morey’s right to free speech, the NBA moved to excoriate Morey and forced him to apologize to China, one of the most oppressive nations on earth.
During the TIME interview, Silver addressed the flap. Now that nearly a year has passed since Morey innocently posted his tweet, Silver said he thinks the crisis has passed.
“I feel it has,” Silver said when asked if the crisis has passed. “You know, our games are on the Tencent distribution platform in China [the government-controlled sports streamer]. And we’ve continued to dialog with the Chinese, with our business partners there, and in certain cases with certain government officials. And, you know, we’re just going to keep at it.”
“We’ve had a long history in China,” he added, “and certainly this is a bump in the road in our relations. Obviously, I think we all understand each other.”