Daryl Morey is leaving his position as general manager of the Houston Rockets ... roughly 1 year after he created an international incident with a pro-Hong Kong tweet.
48-year-old Morey was NOT fired, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski -- but rather it was Daryl who approached Rockets' owner, Tilman Fertitta, and initiated the conversation to step down.
Morey has been the GM for the past 13 seasons -- and wanted to explore other professional options for himself while spending more time with his family ... according to Woj.
Morey was successful during his run with the team -- the Rockets have made the playoffs 8 years in the row, the longest streak among NBA teams.
But he's most well-known for the China incident -- on Oct. 4, 2019 he tweeted out support for Hong Kong, which REALLY pissed off China.
The tweet read, "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong," with a pic of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in October.
The Tweet created a ton of backlash in China ... with massive Chinese e-commerce site Taobao yanking all Rockets merchandise and CCTV pulling NBA games from broadcast.
It was just last week that China allowed CCTV to air NBA games again -- after a massive relationship rebuilding campaign led by NBA commish Adam Silver.
Woj says Morey will stay in the job to help the team find a new head coach -- and he isn't against working with the team in some capacity somewhere down the line.