NEW YORK – The NBA on Monday imposed a $ 50,000 fine on Philadelphia 76ers sports operations president Daryl Morey on Monday for a tweet – now deleted – alleging that Houston Rockets player James Harden violated league rules against illegal negotiations.
A tweet was posted on Morey’s account on December 20, commemorating the anniversary of another tweet he sent congratulating Harden for exceeding Calvin Murphy’s grade for the most assists by a Rockets player. Morey was a member of the Rockets at the time.
This year’s tweet has been deleted. Teams are generally prohibited from discussing players under contract with another team, and the NBA has warned that this could be considered an unauthorized approach.
Harden’s name has been brought up in discussions about possible trades in recent weeks.
A tweet from Morey in 2019 created serious problems for the NBA and its relationship with China. Morey expressed support for the protesters against the Chinese government in Hong Kong on the social network. The NBA games were not broadcast on CCTV, the official Chinese network, for a year after this tweet, which was also deleted.