Daryl Morey, Philadelphia 76ers’ President of Basketball Operations, violated NBA’s anti-tampering rule as he took to social media to post a message about Houston Rockets shooting guard James Harden. Morey has been fined $50,000 on Monday for his act.
On December 20, Morey fueled speculation about a trade for Harden when he posted a memory of one of the former league MVP’s individual accomplishments from last year. Morey was Houston’s general manager before he joined the 76ers in November.
The tweet was posted just before the 2020-21 season kicked off and at a time when rumors of trade talks between the two teams were being surfaced. The tweet has been deleted since then.
“The NBA… has fined Daryl Morey, Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations, $50,000 for violating the league’s anti-tampering rule. The fine is in response to a since deleted social media post Morey made on December 20 regarding the Houston Rockets’ James Harden,” the NBA said in a statement.
This is not the first time Morey has found himself in trouble for a tweet. In October 2019, Morey expressed his support for pro-democracy demonstrators with a post that included an image captioned “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.” That tweet was also deleted after controversies.
NBA matches were stopped from airing by China’s state-run television network following Morey’s politically sensitive tweet while corporate partners in the country scrapped or suspended relations with the NBA.