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Tim Noonan
Tim Noonan

Opinion | NBA in China: choppy waters lie in wait for pious league as it crosses the Rubicon of sport and social justice

  • A highly damning ESPN expose about abuses at NBA academies in China counters the league’s mantra of protecting individual freedoms and human rights
  • How the NBA’s relationship with China plays out will be fascinating to watch, particularly now the games themselves seem secondary to the activism

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The NBA is being forced to come to terms with its new relationship with China. It’s supportive stance for social activism won’t wash in the authoritarian state. Photo: AFP
Tim Noonan

History is unanimous about little. However, one thing historians do agree on is that 49BC was the year Julius Caesar and his troops crossed the Rubicon river and in the process precipitated the Roman Civil War. “Alea iacta est” (The die is cast), Caesar declared, and so it was that the term “crossing the Rubicon” became an indispensable metaphor for passing the point of no return. Fast forward a couple thousand years and today anyone with electricity will also agree that 2020 is the year that sports and social justice irretrievably crossed the Rubicon hand in hand.

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You can’t keep politics out of sport because you can’t keep politics out of life and sport is life. They have always been intertwined, particularly since the playing of the national anthem before every game is an inherently political act. However, any pretence or dated romantic myth that sport is purely an athletic competition has been firmly laid to rest in 2020, thanks in large part to the NBA.

Led by their unfailingly righteous commissioner Adam Silver, the league has long claimed that social justice is in their DNA.

The NBA relaunch this week, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and explosive racial strife gripping the country, strongly reinforced their activism. The opening games began with a five-minute video in support of Black Lives Matter, while a similar message was prominently displayed on the court. The NBA also approved 29 jersey messages ranging from “I Can’t Breathe” and “Say Her Name” to “Justice” and “Equality”, while courtside broadcasters incorporated the message of social justice into every single player interview. Domestically, at least, the NBA’s activism was inescapable by design.

Protesters hold signs referencing Tibet and Hong Kong during the preseason game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors in 2019. Photo: Steven Ryan/Getty Images
Protesters hold signs referencing Tibet and Hong Kong during the preseason game between the Brooklyn Nets and the Toronto Raptors in 2019. Photo: Steven Ryan/Getty Images
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However, one day before the opening tip-off, a scathing expose on ESPN accused the league’s NBA China basketball academies of fostering “a culture of fear and abuse”. The report claimed children were regularly abused by Chinese coaches and staff members, and that American coaches at one of the three academies in Xinjiang were “regularly harassed and surveilled.” One former league employee compared the atmosphere in Xinjiang to “World War II Germany.”

According to NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum, the academies were largely run by local authorities with the NBA supplying foreign coaches and trainers. Tatum also admitted that they were somewhat humbled by the revelations. “One of the lessons that we’ve learned is that we do need to have more direct oversight and the ability to make staffing changes when appropriate,” he added in a pique of understatement.

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