NOBODY SAW MUCH of Daryl Morey in the days after the Houston Rockets landed in Tokyo for the NBA's Japan Games. The Rockets' general manager confined himself to his room at the Ritz Carlton in Roppongi Hills during the team's six-day visit, spotted leaving for occasional jaunts to the Shake Shack located a half-mile away.
Morey had reason to shut himself inside. When he tweeted an image on Friday, Oct. 4, that read "Fight for Freedom, Stand With Hong Kong," a sequence of events ensued that upended the NBA and one of its most recognizable franchises.