CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Will the National Basketball Association be rebranding itself as the China Basketball Association? China, the NBA and LeBron James sound like they think Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey should have “shut up and dribbled” instead of tweeting support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.

In their response to Morey’s tweet, and China backlash, the NBA and LeBron appeared to be showing more allegiance to the dollar and yuan money bag than the U.S. flag.

On his personal twitter account, Morey had tweeted a simple message of support for Hong Kong pro-democracy demonstrators.

“Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

The tweet was quickly targeted by an onslaught of China troll attacks and Morey soon deleted it.

China responded to the tweet like a fire firing dragon. NBA exhibition games in China were not broadcast, China businesses threatened to suspend deals with the NBA and its players. The NBA’s involvement in China generates over $500 million in revenue.

The league and some of its players, including LeBron James, seemed to side with China over Morey and the protesters. In comments to the press, James suggested Morey in his tweet “was misinformed or not really educated on the situation.”

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

Americans used their freedom of speech to blast James comments, prompting him to post damage control tweets.

“Let me clear up the confusion. 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.”

“My team and this league just went through a difficult week. I think people need to understand what a tweet or statement can do to others. And I believe nobody stopped and considered what would happen. Could have waited to send it.”

James also reportedly objected to Morey not being disciplined by the league like players are when they are fined or suspended. James is said to have made the following comment at an NBA event.

“Daryl Morley made these statements, you know damn well if a player made similar statements and caused such poor ramifications for the league, there would be some sort of league recourse.”

James has made at least 15 trips to China. He has made annual Nike and NBA marketing trips to the Communist nation.

NBA players, including James, have repeatedly attacked President Donald Trump, but a GM expressing support for pro-democracy demonstrators is a foul?

Among LeBron James many great achievements has been the establishment of his “I Promise School” in Akron. Instead of lecturing Morey about being misinformed and uneducated on the Hong Kong issue, Lebron should promise to have lessons on China Communism vs U.S. Democracy and free speech at the school and attend them.