A U.S. commission, which includes members of Congress and White House appointees, has asked the NBA to stop the use and sale of products created from forced labor in China.
Citing the values stated by the NBA, the commission called on the league to ban both the sale and use of shoes and all other sports apparel made by forced labor in China.
They also requested the league to meet with victims of the authoritarian government’s repression. Additionally, they asked that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver “learn about the sad reality of genocide.”
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China sent a letter on Friday to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver with the requests, per reports. In addition, the commission also sent a letter to the National Basketball Players Association president and New Orleans Pelicans player CJ McCollum, voicing their unease with the union’s “potential complicity” by proxy.
“NBA players should not be subsidizing genocide by endorsing or wearing shoes and gear from Chinese sportwear companies complicit in forced labor,” Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) wrote in the letter to McCollum.
The two serve as the commission chair and co-chair, respectively.
Does The NBA Owe Enes Kanter An Apology?
A familiar voice in the fight against the NBA’s assumed unholy alliance with China was borrowed from former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom in the letter to McCollum. His July testimony was quoted, which alleged that the players’ union put pressure on him to stop his criticisms of China’s human rights record.
Kanter Freedom is not in the NBA, and no team has signed him since he was traded and cut from the Boston Celtics to the Houston Rockets.
Kanter Freedom feels his activism is the reason for speaking up about China’s mistreatment of its Uyghur ethnic minority. He has often likened himself to the basketball equivalent of fomer NFL player Colin Kaepernick.
Kanter has been highly critical of the NBA, especially Commissioner Silver.
“But the one thing I can say is the NBA and Adam Silver is definitely one of the most hypocritical organizations and one of the most hypocritical commissioners out there in the world,” Kanter said to TMZ in July 2022.
“They stand up for things until it affects their money or business,” Enes said, “and someone had to expose them, and someone finally exposed them and from firsthand.”
With the NBA’s business dealings with China and the NBPA players like Kyrie Irving and many more with transactions for their athletic deals with companies in China, the league and the union have a huge decision to make.
