A couple of years ago the National Basketball Association – the NBA – seemed to forget which nation invented the sport and keeps its existence possible. When Hong Kongers took to the streets to fight for their freedom against communist China, then Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted to support them. Morey is now the GM of the Philadelphia 76ers.
The incensed, freedom-hating ChiComs went straight for the jugular and threatened to cut the entire NBA off from their market. Faced with the choice of defending freedom or making bank, the NBA chose to make bank. It took 15 months for China to resume doing business with the Rockets after cutting the franchise out of the country. Despite clear evidence that China is currently, as in right now, engaged in systemic and brutal human rights violations including running racist concentration camps, the NBA’s LeBron James won’t say a word about any of it. He’ll trash America every chance he gets, anytime some thug forces a cop into an impossible split-second choice, even tweeting a threat to a police officer before deleting it, but he’s silent about China’s abuses. Why? Has he been bought?
The NBA that has a red-white-and-blue white guy for its logo went full woke after George Floyd, and never once stepped up for law and order as city after city burned in the riots that summer. These are cities where the NBA has franchises and depends on cops for security at every game. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban even canceled playing the national anthem at home games, and then had to backtrack. One player who tried to stand up for America, foreign-born Enes Kanter, changed his name to Enes Freedom and expressed gratitude for the opportunities America has given him. He got traded to the Rockets, who immediately cut him, and he can’t even find a team anymore. Both Freedom and the Chinese media knew why the 29-year-old had been summarily dismissed.
If you haven’t noticed, that’s two teams in deep-red Texas that didn’t stand up for America. Just what does the NBA really stand for?
While the NBA shuns those who speak out against China and seems to encourage the big dummies like LeBron and Kevin Durant who consistently rip America, a curious thing has happened. Foreign-born players have gotten to work and now dominate the league.
Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo started the trend. The Greek-born star is one of just a handful to win back-to-back MVP awards, in 2018-19 and 2019-20. His true-life tale of going from poor, undocumented immigrant in Greece, being helped by people (white men) to get onto basketball teams and eventually the NBA, reads like a storybook. White men at the Milwaukee Bucks take a flyer on him in the draft, and he’s suddenly among the world’s richest people. Giannis is the MVP of humility and heartfelt gratitude too. While other players born in American freedom and privilege can offer nothing but criticism, Giannis put his head down, works hard to be the best, and in 2021 led the Bucks to their first title in 50 years.
Nikola Jokic has picked up where Giannis left off. The Serbian-born Denver Nuggets center has won back-to-back MVP awards in 2020-21 and 2021-22. He has led the Nuggets into the playoffs since his arrival in the NBA and may yet bag a title in Denver. It would be their first ever.
Just behind these two is the Philadelphia 76ers’ superstar big man Joel Embiid. He has finished runner-up to Jokic the past two seasons and ESPN is already making the case for him to win the MVP race this season. Born in Cameroon, a country known more for soccer than basketball, Embiid is a 7-foot center who can dominate games with his physicality and smarts. Not only does he not beat up on America – Embiid recently changed his citizenship and is now a full-fledged American.
"I've been here for a long time," Embiid told The Associated Press. "My son is American. I felt like, I'm living here and it's a blessing to be an American. So I said, why not?"
“It’s a blessing to be American.” Isn’t that refreshing to hear? For some reason, SB Nation left the blessing part out of Embiid’s quote in its story about his new citizenship. Who cut it, the reporter or the editors?
Embiid, Jokic, and Antetokounmpo come from different countries and backgrounds and play for different teams in the NBA. But they all have quite a bit in common. They’re strong on family, deep on gratitude, and happy to be in the land of freedom and opportunity. Ask most NBA fans to list their favorite players and at least one of these three makes that list because of their character, their drive, and their positive outlook. While American-born NBA stars rant about “white privilege” and even threaten the cops who keep all of us safe – from their mansions and while surrounded by their paid armed security – the NBA and its fans are privileged to admire humble winners like these foreign-born ballers.
