NBA players union whines about the Magic donating to DeSantis
Zachary Faria
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Another day, another instance of NBA players and officials whining that NBA owners have political opinions that are different from their own.
The latest example comes at the expense of the Orlando Magic, which donated $50,000 to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) Never Back Down PAC. Why organization leadership would make that decision is not a big surprise: Florida is prospering under DeSantis’s leadership, which the Magic have experienced firsthand. The Magic’s donation isn’t exactly a jaw-dropping one either, given that Never Back Down has pulled in more than $130 million since March.
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But any positive acknowledgment or contribution to a Republican is a sin in NBA circles. New Orleans Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. complained that since the team has “a majority black roster, a black head coach, and a black GM” it should not have supported “a man that claims that slavery had personal benefits for the enslaved.” Luckily, Nance has basketball as a career because DeSantis never said there were personal benefits from slavery, nor did the state’s history standards that he clearly did not read.
The National Basketball Players Association also complained given the “recent comments and policies of its beneficiary.” The NBPA whined that the organization has an obligation to “consider the diverse values and perspectives of staff and players” when it makes political donations. Plastering “Black Lives Matter” to every basketball court is acceptable, but a modest donation to the governor whose COVID policies allowed the NBA to finish its 2019-20 season is a grave injustice.
You will notice that there was no such outrage when the Magic announced their sponsorship deal with Disney, the corporation that decided to engage in an openly partisan fight with DeSantis and surely benefits from its relationship with the Magic by more than $50,000. There is also no outrage over Disney’s relationship with the Chinese Communist Party, a genocidal regime that Disney openly panders to in film and business decisions.
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Did the Magic have to “consider the diverse values and perspectives of staff and players” in partnering with Disney, or is there no diversity of values in the NBA when it comes to partnering with a genocidal, expansionist regime?
Given just how dependent the NBA has been on China for years, and how the league will go as far as to try and cover up its involvement with the physical abuse of Chinese children in NBA-affiliated camps in the country, that would not be a surprise. Somehow, the NBPA and players think that it is immoral to give a small amount of money to a mainstream Republican politician while working with the Chinese Communist Party to make money for the league. Politics is the last thing players and league employees should be commenting on.