LeBron James Breaks Silence on Daryl Morey, ‘He Wasn’t Educated On China’

LeBron James is FINALLY talking about the Daryl Morey tweet that sparked an international incident … saying the Rockets GM simply “wasn’t educated” about China before he posted his pro-Hong Kong tweet.

“I think that’s another situation that should stay behind closed doors,” LeBron told the media.

Remember, LeBron and the Lakers were in Shanghai to play the Brooklyn Nets in an exhibition game last week when the backlash over the tweet began.

Chinese officials essentially blackballed the Houston Rockets immediately — taking down signage, pulling merchandise and blocking TV networks from airing games.

But now LeBron is back in the U.S. … and he’s calling out Morey for what LeBron is describing as a selfish tweet.

“We all talk about this freedom of speech. Yes, we all do have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others and you’re only thinking about yourself,” LeBron said.

“I don’t want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke. And so many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually. So, just be careful what we tweet and what we say, and was we do. Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that too.”

When questioned about why he thinks Morey — who had tweeted out “Fight For Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong” —  is uneducated, LeBron had this to say:

“That’s just my belief. I don’t know. That’s my belief. Thats all I can say. I believe he was either misinformed or not really educated on the situation.”

“And if he was, then so be it, but I have no idea. That’s just my belief that when you say things or do things and you know the people can be affected by it, and the families and the individuals and everyone that can be affected by it, sometimes things can be changed. And also sometimes social media is not always the proper way to go about things as well. But that’s just my belief.”

After LeBron made the comments, there was immediate backlash on social media from people upset with his comments. LeBron went to Twitter to defend himself.

“Let me clear up the confusion,” LeBron said … “I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the tweet.  I’m not discussing the substance.  Others can talk About that.”