Adam Silver says NBA has not blackballed Enes Kanter Freedom
Adam Silver, the commissioner of the N.B.A., said in an interview that the league’s position on China had not changed. He also denied that the league had blackballed Freedom, saying that comparisons to Kaepernick were “completely unfounded and unfair.” “We spoke directly about his activities this season,” Silver said, “and I made it absolutely clear to him that it was completely within his right to speak out on issues that he was passionate about.”
Source: Sopan Deb @ New York Times
More on this storyline
Freedom declined to be interviewed by phone or in person, but agreed to answer questions over text message. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize why I got little playing time and was released,” he said. “But it does take people with a conscience to speak out and say it’s not right.” -via New York Times / March 24, 2022
Jeffrey Ngo, a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist in Washington, said Freedom’s criticism of China “must have at least played a role” in his not playing. “All of a sudden there’s all this attention and people telling him to stop talking about it or there would be consequences,” Ngo said. “And then those consequences came.” -via New York Times / March 24, 2022
Freedom said Silver characterized their conversation wrongly, but — in what has become a trend for him — he wouldn’t offer specifics. -via New York Times / March 24, 2022
