NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal offered some support for Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey on Tuesday night, and his right to tweet in support of the protesters in Hong Kong.
Ahead of the NBA on TNT opening night double-header, Shaq, Ernie, Kenny and Charles discussed the situation at length, as The Diesel explained that although it is an unfortunate situation, he still stands by Morey's right to speak out.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently revealed that the Chinese government wanted Morey to be fired for tweeting his support of the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, but Silver informed them Morey will not face any punishment for his comments.
It's a situation that clearly won't be going away any time soon, but you can expect the NBA on TNT to continue to give their unfiltered take on things as the season progresses.
"As American people we do a lot of business in China. And they know and understand our values, and we understand their values," O'Neal said. "One of our best values here in America is free speech. We're allowed to say what we want to say and we are allowed to speak up about injustices, and that's just how it goes. If people don't understand that, that's something they have to deal with."
"It was unfortunate for both parties, and you've got people speaking out about something they don't know what they're talking about," the four-time NBA champion continued. "Daryl Morey was right — whenever you see something going on anywhere in the world, you should have the right to say, 'That's not right.'"