Adam Silver:
Let me put it in context.
Our relationship in China began over 40 years ago, actually, in 1979, when the Washington Bullets first played in China. It has grown considerably over the years, to the point now where we have hundreds of millions of basketball fans in China.
There was an incident, as you may recall, last fall where an NBA general manager tweeted something in support of Hong Kong. As a result, we were taken off the air, Chinese Central Television, for the first time in 30 years. And our games are still not back on the air, as a result of our supporting that general manager and supporting, frankly, American values, the values of free speech.
That particular incident that you referenced, we have also been involved in youth basketball for decades in China. There is a particular academy in Xinjiang province where we supplied three coaches. We didn’t open the academy. We had nothing to do with the operation of the academy. We supplied those three coaches.
We heard that there were irregularities in — at that academy. Some of the things that have appeared in articles are not things that we were aware of. We’re continuing to do an investigation.
But we did know that the way the players were being treated there was nothing that the NBA — was inconsistent with the NBA’s values, anything we had ever done in China. And we pulled those three coaches out. So that’s our response.
I — in terms of rethinking our strategy in China, I recognize that even now, both — frankly, both sides of the aisle, there seems to be a rethinking of what the United States’ relationship with — should be with China. And so we are listening closely.
I continue to believe that sports in particular can be a force for change, and that these cultural exchanges are critically important. And so, of course, if we decide not to trade with China, and that becomes something that our government is no longer favoring, we will stop as well.
But, at least for now, we think continuing to be an exporter of American culture, demonstrating to the Chinese who can still see our games through some streaming services what we are about, what the expression is that comes with the NBA, we think is positive.
But we are always examining what works best for, not just the NBA, but for our country.
