Caught Between Beijing and Brooklyn

After stepping into the NBA’s controversy over Hong Kong, Nets owner and Alibaba co-founder Joe Tsai wants the league back on Chinese state TV

- Qian Ye

Joe Tsai was in his study in Hong Kong when he heard about the tweet. On a Saturday afternoon in early October, less than a month into Tsai’s tenure as majority owner of the Brooklyn Nets, someone from the NBA called with the news. “He walked me through what happened and said this could become a troublesome thing,” Tsai says. Earlier that day, Daryl Morey, general manager of the Houston Rockets, widely regarded as one of the league’s most forward-thinking executives, had tweeted the slogan “Fight for Freedom / Stand With Hong Kong.” It was a show of solidarity with protesters who’d been in the streets of the former British territory for four months, opposing what they saw as China’s attempts to stamp out their freedom.

By the time of the call, Morey had deleted the tweet, but it was still sparking outrage on the mainland. “I was sitting there thinking, I’m uniquely positioned to say something. It would be weird if I didn’t say something,” Tsai recalls. “I am the only owner that’s Chinese. I do business in China. I live in Hong Kong. I’m sort of in the middle of this.”