ESPN Drops Bombshell Report On NBA's Chinese Academies

Accusations of abuse by Chinese coaches at NBA training academies. Human rights concerns at a youth-development center. Barbed-wire camps. Amercan coaches harassed. One person comparing the atmosphere at a Chinese academy to "World War II Germany."

That's the word today via an explosive report from ESPN.com on what's going in China with the NBA and the operations it is maintaining in places like Xinjiang where American coaches are reportedly under surveillance.

In other words, all hell is breaking loose on Adam Silver and those who've stood by and allowed China to dictate how the NBA would handle things like Hong Kong. When ESPN is breaking a massive story on a Chinese basketball camp and using "World War II Germany" in the report, you know this is very big news.

In their report, Steve Fainaru & Mark Fainaru-Wada can't get NBA deputy commissioner and chief operating officer Mark Tatum to say whether the closing of the Xinjiang academy was based on human rights violations. Tatum declined to say.

Let me repeat that for you guys, the NBA's COO won't say yes or no whether human rights played a part in the closing of the Xinjiang academy. Go read the full story, it's eye-opening where the NBA finds itself as it tries to expand the brand to China and suck up the dollars that come with that expansion.

Missouri Senator Josh Hawley, who had been pressing the NBA on its relationship with China, finally heard back from the league office. One answer that stuck out to Hawley was this one:

Hawley appears headed for a possible showdown with Silver in D.C. "The whole letter is a joke. Reads like lawyers in Beijing drafted it. Maybe it’s time to hear directly from Adam Silver. On Capitol Hill. Under oath," Hawley wrote on Twitter.
















I'll leave you with this from the ESPN report. This pretty much sums up where Silver and his NBA expansionists are right now with China and the hypocrisy of the times we're living in.




Written by
Joe Kinsey is the Senior Director of Content of OutKick and the editor of the Morning Screencaps column that examines a variety of stories taking place in real America. Kinsey is also the founder of OutKick’s Thursday Night Mowing League, America’s largest virtual mowing league. Kinsey graduated from University of Toledo.