It also is not as if the NBA has a blanket policy of not allowing players and personnel to comment on any political matters.
In fact, the NBA has prided itself of having an open policy on political activism. Commissioner Adam Silver has said he sees his job as protecting player’s free speech. When President Trump said he wouldn’t invite the 2018 NBA champion to the White House, Silver boasted of the long tradition of activism in the NBA. “I’m proud of the fact that in this league our players, our coaches, our owners, feel comfortable expressing their political points of view,” he said.
Of course, it’s easy for the NBA to be all sanctimonious about speech when it means a star player calling an unpopular American president a “bum.” But when it comes to a GM having the temerity to tweet “Fight for Freedom,” suddenly Silver cowers, and a U.S. sports league has to impose totalitarian China’s censorship rules on one of its executives.
Since, clearly the NBA only values money, above all else, if you care about freedom and are inscenced by this decision, then there is only one way to send a message to them — by denying them any of yours.
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