Good morning. Let’s basketball.
Fears about Team USA basketball might be overblown
Good morning. We have that and more in Monday’s NBA newsletter.
ONLY TOMORROW: Paul Flannery on Jimmy Butler’s relentless forward progress. The Bulls are weird but I’m really excited to see Butler’s work next season.
NOTED: Team USA is kicking tail in its first couple exhibitions (sheesh, DeAndre Jordan), including a Sunday night throttling of China and a Friday beatdown of Argentina. The Games start in just under two weeks.
GOOD NEWS: The WNBA rescinded fines related to Black Lives Matter protests by players. No word on how exactly the league will work with players to allow free expression while also keeping uniform rules in place. It would definitely behoove the WNBA to figure out this balance before the NBA season begins again. Coincidentally, here’s a Q&A with WNBA president Lisa Borders that was conducted before the BLM protests happened.
MORE ON CHARLOTTE: The essential Claire McNear writes that the NBA’s decision to ditch Charlotte shows what kind of league the NBA sees itself as. The essential Jeff Zillgitt reports on how Rick Welts made an impact among NBA owners by discussing how he no longer felt comfortable attending All-Star in N.C. Curtis Harris provides context on the NBA’s history of social activism.
For the other side of the argument, the fully nonessential Clay Travis argued that the NBA took a fake stand and anyone who celebrates the decision is an idiot. The fact that Travis a) falsely traces the Charlotte anti-discrimination law to “PC Bros” and not, uh, actual victims of transgender discrimination and their advocates, b) says the NBA is only doing this to appeal to left-wing fans on social media (LOL I mean come on) and c) makes the irrelevant “What About China?” argument (see my column last week to explain its irrelevance). Good old Clay Travis might have a point about reactionary partisanship if a wide swath of the business community (including Paypal and the liberal lions at Deutsche Bank) hadn’t protested the bill by canceling expansion plans in the state, if the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and CEO of NASCAR (a Trump backer!) hadn’t spoken out against HB2, if the U.S. Department of Justice hadn’t sued over HB2-related violations to both the Civil Rights Act and Title IX. Travis tries to frame the NBA’s decision as a try-hard appeasement of a narrow band of partisans when in reality a huge swath of the business world has a problem with HB2 because it is like actually awful and destructive.
THANKS, JIM: It was Jim Boeheim who convinced Carmelo Anthony to play for Team USA one more time. So for the first time in my life I can sincerely say “Thank you, Jim Boeheim!” Can you imagine an Olympic tournament without Melo at this point?
HAUNTING: Michael Lee’s column on Paul George’s return to Team USA has a powerful Kyrie Irving memory.
THIS IS A GOD DREAM: Joel Embiid remembers Sam Hinkie on Instagram.
FASCINATING: How the Magic let the Lakers steal Shaq.
HAPPY TRAILS: William C. Rhoden and Harvey Araton are both leaving the New York Times sports section. Here’s Rhoden’s goodbye column. Here’s Araton on MJ’s opportunity to take a stand. Institutions we’ll be weaker without.
Happy Monday. See you next time.
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