NBA commissioner Adam Silver keeps trying to make the point that while the NBA did, indeed, apologize to China for Daryl Morey’s tweet supporting the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, the league isn’t restricting anyone’s freedom of expression, sanctioning any employees or telling anyone what to say or do.

“The fact we have apologized to fans in China is not inconsistent with supporting someone’s right to have a point of view,” Silver said this week while in Tokyo.

True, but that sure feels like a distinction without a difference. And based on the Chinese escalating the response to this controversy, trying to split hairs isn’t working. And perhaps never will.

Morey, the Houston Rockets general manager, kicked it all off with a fairly tame retweet of a supportive message to the protests, which are now in the 18th week and have occasionally turned violent.

“Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong,” it read.

It was essentially nothing and came from a relatively anonymous NBA personality. Morey is well known by general manager standards, but he isn’t exactly LeBron James. Most of his 200,000 Twitter followers probably didn’t even pay attention. Twitter is banned in China, so no one there even saw it.

The Chinese government, however, wanted to make it clear to the NBA that any comments or gestures about the Hong Kong protests are considered off-limits. It fears this bubbling up to the LeBron level, which could impact the propaganda campaigns that keep it in power.

As such, it responded with over-sized aggression — canceling business deals, pulling exhibition games off television and putting the NBA’s billions in economic interests in China in doubt.

So the NBA apologized, dubbing Morey’s retweet “regrettable” and noting that it “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.”

The commissioner on Tuesday issued a new statement that acknowledged the initial comments left “people angered, confused or unclear on who we are or what the NBA stands for.”

Daryl Morey soaks it in at Russell Westbrook's introductory news conference. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) More

He added, “We recognize that our two countries have different political systems and beliefs. And like many global brands, we bring our business to places with different political systems around the world. But for those who question our motivation, this is about far more than growing our business.

“Values of equality, respect and freedom of expression have long defined the NBA — and will continue to do so,” Silver stated.

He should have said that originally. After all, the Morey tweet wasn’t regrettable unless viewed through a totalitarian lens. Besides, trying to be rational with irrational actors doesn’t usually work.

The apology sure hasn’t. China just keeps hammering the league in both business dealings and its state-run media. This is what it does.

“During the pro-democracy Hong Kong protests, the Chinese government has put enormous pressure on companies when it found out that their employees have supported the protests on social media,” William Nee, a Hong Kong-based business and human rights analyst for Amnesty International, told Yahoo Sports.

“Then the Chinese government, along with Communist Party-run media outlets and angry netizens put pressure on companies to fire offending employees and make groveling statements to Beijing,” Nee continued.

Well, the NBA isn’t going to fire Morey or anyone else. That appears to be the line in the sand. But the groveling statement to Beijing sure did happen.

“Essentially, the Chinese government wants to use its economic leverage to coerce the NBA and its players into not making any comments on human rights or democracy that it finds threatening,” Nee said.

China sees the league as meddling with its affairs. What an American would see as a “pro-democracy movement” is considered by the Chinese government to be a “separatist movement” … i.e. the eventual independence of Hong Kong.

Story continues