The NBA’s hypocrisy in promoting social justice causes while ignoring China’s human rights abuses for financial gain was on display during the chaotic 2019-20 season. NBA commissioner Adam Silver wants to make it clear: China’s human rights abuses are just fine in his book.
That’s what is conveyed in his interview with GQ released on Monday. The interview was conducted during the NBA Finals back in October. Silver responded to complaints about the NBA’s silence on China, saying, “But I guess that people could say, ‘Well, it’s inconsistent with our values.’ And I’d say, ‘Do you make decisions based on one issue?’”
It’s difficult to know which “one issue” Silver is referring to. Is it China’s campaign of genocide against the Uighurs, complete with concentration camps, torture, and forced sterilization? Or is it the repression of freedom in Hong Kong? That “one issue” could also be China’s cover-up for the coronavirus, which included silencing whistleblowers while allowing, indeed fomenting, a global pandemic.
Who could let any of those “one issues” get in the way of cozying up to a murderous regime?
With China, Silver actually is making decisions based on one issue: money. This has been the case for some time now with the NBA. Whether it’s Stephen Curry and Steve Kerr pretending they never heard about Hong Kong or LeBron James passionately defending the Chinese government, NBA players and personalities are intent on keeping that cash flow alive.
What’s worse is that Silver thinks the NBA is “an exporter of American values hypocrisy.” If anything, the NBA has internalized some of China’s values: Silver still hasn’t weighed in on the reports that Chinese coaches physically abused children at official NBA basketball camps in China under his watch. One such basketball camp was in the region of Xinjiang, the same region where the Chinese government is running its concentration camps.
The hypocrisy had an obvious effect on the NBA last season. While many NBA boosters try to dismiss ratings concerns because of the pandemic and the effect it had on sports, the NBA saw a massive ratings drop before the season was put on hold, after league personalities failed to condemn China despite the NBA pushing “progressive” politics for years.
There are the “bedrock principles underlying this league,” in the words of Silver. The NBA’s goal has been to hide behind its social justice credentials whenever the issue of China is raised and watch as a sympathetic media defends it. Just like Jones in the interview, no one will ask Silver or LeBron or Curry a difficult question. They will just let them respond to their “haters,” deflecting from their own moral cowardice while the league tries to get back into China’s good graces.
