Draymond Green joins Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry in staying away from China and Hong Kong

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) against the Los Angeles Lakers during a preseason NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) against the Los Angeles Lakers during a preseason NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2019. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Photo: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press Photo: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press Image 1 of / 33 Caption Close Draymond Green joins Steve Kerr, Stephen Curry in staying away from China and Hong Kong 1 / 33 Back to Gallery

Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green became the latest member of the Warriors organization to weigh in on the ongoing controversy between the NBA and China, stemming from Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's tweet expressing support for protests in Hong Kong.

Like head coach Steve Kerr and point guard Stephen Curry, Green said he didn't know enough about the situation to comment.

"I don't really understand it," he said. "At this point, I'm just trying to educate myself on all of it, even the initial tweet that started this uproar, I don't really understand what's going on in Hong Kong or China. It's hard enough trying to understand politics in America for me, so I'm not knowledgeable enough to say much unless I just want to just talk to talk and I never really do that."

Green has been vocal on American politics in the past. In a September 2017 tweet, Green asked how President Donald Trump was "still running our country," and he also pushed back on California Rep. Maxine Waters' call for citizens to harass Trump administration officials in public.

When asked if the backlash Morey faced would discourage players from speaking out on other issues in the future, Green said he and other players still plan to be vocal.

Draymond Green said he’s trying to educate himself on the NBA/China situation. Green said he didn’t want to speak on something he didn’t know much about.



“It’s hard enough trying to understand politics in America.” pic.twitter.com/7edwIcc3IX — Logan Murdock (@loganmmurdock) October 10, 2019

"I think any issue that touches you per se, guys are going to speaking out about it," he said. "When you speak out on an issue, it's America so you have freedom of speech. You've never really seen a reaction like this because we all understand it's America and whatever your position is on a certain thing, if you want to take that position you take that position."

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However, when speaking on issues of another country such as China, Green said there are "differences in the countries" as it pertains to freedom of speech.

"Clearly [China] is a different country, and they react differently to someone taking a position," he said. "So when you see the position that was taken, I'm sure [Morey] didn't think, 'Oh my god, it would cause this.' Because you just typically do what an American does, which is if you have an opinion, if you want to speak on something, speak on it. I think it's the first time that I actually spoke on another country, and you just kind of see the differences in the countries."

Curry, who gave a similar answer to Green, said he would "come back" to the issue of Hong Kong, human rights and free speech when he learned more.

"I just don’t know enough about Chinese history and how that’s influenced modern society today in that interaction to speak on it," he said. "So that’s just where we’re at. It’s not going away. So we’ll come back to it.”

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Kerr also declined to comment on the story, citing a lack of knowledge about the situation.

The normally outspoken Warriors coach was criticized by many — including President Donald Trump — for not commenting on the issue despite his reputation for being vocal on other human rights issues such as immigration, police brutality and gun violence.

Eric Ting is an SFGATE staff writer. Email: eric.ting@sfgate.com | Twitter:@_ericting