Shaquille O’Neal defended free speech on opening night of the NBA season Tuesday — proclaiming that Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey “was right” to openly support pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, despite the firestorm it ignited in China.

“As American people, we do a lot of business in China,” the retired basketball great said during TNT’s pre-game show. “And they know and understand our values and we understand their values. And one of our best values in America is free speech.

“We’re allowed to say what we want to say and we’re allowed to speak up on injustices, and that’s just how it goes.”

“Daryl Morey was right,” Shaq continued. “Whenever you see something going on wrong anywhere in the world, you should have the right to say ‘That’s not right,’ and that’s what he did.”

Though acknowledging that when it comes to business, “sometimes you have to tiptoe around things,” Shaq said that: “We have the right to speak.”

“Especially with social media. We can say whatever we want to say, when we want to say it.”

Commissioner Adam Silver said last week that the NBA had suffered “substantial” losses in China over Morey’s since-deleted Oct. 4 tweet that read: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”

The NBA is standing by Morey despite what Silver said were demands by the Chinese government and business partners that he be fired.

Another controversy was ignited when Lakers superstar LeBron James criticized Morey’s support for the protesters.

James came under fire from US lawmakers and others who accused him of pandering to the repressive Chinese government or of being motivated by financial concerns.