Politics Rumors

ESPN suspended its top NBA reporter, Adrian Wojnarowski, after he sent a profane email to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), multiple people familiar with the situation said Sunday. Wojnarowski had been scheduled to travel to Florida soon to cover the restart of the NBA season, but he will not make the trip as originally planned. He is still expected to be part of ESPN’s coverage of the resumption of play at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex outside Orlando — but at a later date. His suspension is between one and two weeks, according to those same people.
8 hours ago – via Ben Strauss @ Washington Post

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Storyline: Adrian Wojnarowski Suspension
According to a person with knowledge of the exchange, Wojnarowski made attempts to contact Hawley’s office Friday to apologize but did not hear back. Hawley’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Hawley tweeted Sunday that ESPN shouldn’t have suspended Wojnarowski and instead should do more reporting on China’s relationship with the NBA.
8 hours ago – via Ben Strauss @ Washington Post

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ESPN suspends NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski

Adrian Wojnarowski has been suspended by ESPN for sending “fuck you” in response to an email from Missouri senator Josh Hawley about the NBA and China, sources tell Outkick. At press time, we were unable to determine the length of the suspension for the NBA insider as it’s being held close to the vest.
15 hours ago – via Ryan Glasspiegel @ OutKick

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Hawley wrote an open letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on Friday criticizing the league’s relationship with China and calling on the league to allow messages in support of police, the military and Hong Kong protesters on player jerseys. The NBA is allowing players taking part in the season’s restart to wear pre-approved messages in support of social justice on their nameplates in place of their last names. Responding to a press release emailed to him from Hawley’s office regarding the letter, Wojnarowski, ESPN’s chief NBA news-breaker, responded back: “(Expletive) you.” Hawley took the response by “Woj” public, prompting an apology from Wojnarowski.
15 hours ago – via Jace Evans @ USA Today Sports

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Storyline: Adrian Wojnarowski Suspension
15 hours ago – via Jace Evans @ USA Today Sports

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While it’s true that the NBA has a likely ally in Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, you never quite know where the political winds might shift. A couple of phone calls shuts the NBA’s business down, as so many businesses have been shut down around the country. I had Henry Abbott of TrueHoop on my podcast and he made a point that few others have made: Silver has been fairly politically neutral of late, despite his reputation as the progressive commissioner. The theory Abbott espoused was that this has something to do with the NBA needing allies in government to make this bubble a reality. Many NBA players (and fans) might hate President Donald Trump, but Silver can’t afford to be seen as a Trump enemy right now. As mentioned before, the federal government has the power to undermine the NBA’s operation.
2 days ago – via Ethan Strauss @ The Athletic

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Storyline: Orlando Bubble
And though he has no problem with any of the approved phrases for NBA jerseys — a list that reportedly includes “Black Lives Matter;” “Say Their Names;” “Vote;” “I Can’t Breathe;” “Justice;” “Peace;” “Equality;” “Freedom;” “Enough;” “Power to the People;” “Justice Now;” “Say Her Name;” “Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can);” “Liberation;” “See Us;” “Hear Us;” “Respect Us;” “Love Us;” “Listen;” “Listen to Us;” “Stand Up;” “Ally;” “Anti-Racist;” “I Am A Man;” “Speak Up;” “How Many More;” “Group Economics;” “Education Reform;” and “Mentor” — Anderson feels the time has come to get people thinking outside of the box while asking them to consider being somewhat colorblind as the national debate over matters of race moves forward. “If you label a people as racist, which is happening now, you push people away,” Anderson said. “(President Donald) Trump is doing that, and white supremacy is becoming normalized. COVID-19 masks are political? Black people being profiled is political? “I want to stop that trend.”
5 days ago – via Chris Sheridan @ Forbes.com

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Mike Vorkunov: WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert says Kelly Loeffler is no longer involved in day-to-day Atlanta Dream business. “The WNBA is based on the principle of equal and fair treatment of all people and we… will continue to use our platforms to vigorously advocate for social justice.” pic.twitter.com/HPHxsGDYro

5 days ago – via MikeVorkunov

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If basketball icon LeBron James gets his way, NBA arenas and other sports venues around the country will be mega polling sites for the November general election. James and his voting rights group, formed this spring with other black athletes and entertainers, are joining with other professional basketball leaders and Michigan’s top elections official to push for mega voting sites to accommodate in-person balloting amid the COVID-19 pandemic. More Than A Vote, the James organization dedicated to maximizing Black turnout in November, shared its plans with The Associated Press on Wednesday after the Detroit Pistons became the second NBA franchise to announce plans to use its arena for voting later this year. In Georgia, Fulton County elections officials this week approved the Atlanta Hawks’ proposal to use State Farm Arena as a polling site. Plans call for the arena to serve as a countywide early voting site ahead of Election Day.
2 weeks ago – via Bill Barrow @ Associated Press

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2 weeks ago – via The Associated Press @ Los Angeles Daily News

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More Than A Vote, the James organization dedicated to maximizing Black turnout in November, shared its plans with The Associated Press on Wednesday after the Detroit Pistons became the second NBA franchise to announce plans to use its arena for voting later this year. In Georgia, Fulton County elections officials this week approved the Atlanta Hawks’ proposal to use State Farm Arena as a polling site. Plans call for the arena to serve as a countywide early voting site ahead of Election Day.
2 weeks ago – via The Associated Press @ Los Angeles Daily News

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Lloyd Pierce, head coach of the Atlanta Hawks, said the arrangement in his city ensures “high turnout” in a safe environment. Benson, Pierce and David Fizdale, former New York Knicks head coach, will advise NBA franchises and arena management entities around the country on how to replicate the existing deals. The Milwaukee Bucks also confirmed they are willing to use their home arena as a voting site in the most populous city in the key battleground of Wisconsin.
2 weeks ago – via The Associated Press @ Los Angeles Daily News

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2 weeks ago – via taniaganguli

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“It’s 650,000 to a million expats living in Canada,” Nurse said. “I think like with anything, [voting abroad] is probably a really old initiative that’s hard to get the message out, and we’re hoping to help, we’re hoping to help raise awareness.” Nurse has a series of public service announcements planned, including some with Raptors players. They’ll guide voters on how to register and where to vote, to “get the wheels in motion, and then there’ll be a couple of other steps once we get closer [to Nov. 3 election day].”
2 weeks ago – via cbc.ca

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A U.S. Senator is demanding answers from NBA commissioner Adam Silver on his league’s relationship with China. In a letter sent Tuesday to Silver, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) expressed “concern” over the NBA’s dealings with a country governed by a Communist regime that has abused human rights, squashed pro-democracy protests and hidden details on the coronavirus outbreak. Sports Illustrated obtained a copy of the two-page letter.
2 weeks ago – via Sports Illustrated

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Blackburn is giving Silver a July 21 deadline to respond to three questions she poses at the letter’s end regarding China Central Television’s ban on NBA games, the league’s relationship with Chinese state-owned enterprise Alibaba and the league’s training center in the controversial region of Xinjiang. The relationship between China and the United States is at a “pivotal moment,” she writes, and it could eventually lead to a new Cold War.
2 weeks ago – via Sports Illustrated

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The letter closes with these three questions/requests: 1. What are the anticipated financial consequences of China Central Television’s (CCTV) continued ban on the airing of NBA games? 2. Please outline the scope of the NBA’s relationship with Chinese state-owned enterprise Alibaba. 3. The NBA reportedly continues to operate a training center Xinjiang, one of the world’s worst humanitarian zones. What steps is the NBA taking to shutter this location?
2 weeks ago – via Sports Illustrated

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Over the past few years, Kanter has used his substantial platform as an international star athlete to condemn Turkey’s pivot towards authoritarianism under president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Kanter has been an outspoken critic against Erdoğan and the deepening human rights crisis taking place under his regime. “There is no freedom of speech in that country,” Kanter told the Guardian during a phone interview. “It’s heartbreaking.”
2 weeks ago – via Karim Zidan @ The Guardian

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“The last time I saw my family was back in 2015,” Kanter said. “My dad was a genetics professor and he got fired from his job. My sister went to medical school for six years and she cannot find a job right now because of her last name. One of the saddest things is that my little brother’s dream was to be an NBA player but he literally got kicked out of every team in Turkey.” Kanter also revealed that his family was pressured to publicly disown him, and they eventually asked him to change his family name, which he refused to do. He has not spoken to his parents or siblings in years. “I can’t even remember the last time I spoke to my family,” he added.
2 weeks ago – via Karim Zidan @ The Guardian

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Does that summer feel at all connected to you to this summer, Trump and all that? Chris Bosh: There’s things that in America people haven’t talked about. Being frank: The country was founded on slavery. That’s a known fact that can not be escaped. Of course there are going to be underlying tones in a society, of oppression, and racism. It’s naturally built in. And for women too. Women were not in the room when they were writing the Constitution. That all has to be thought about while we’re working into these things. I’m from Dallas. I have family in Alabama, Mississippi with rich history with NAACP and being involved in the cause. Black history was HUGE in my family. Knowing these things was super important. I’ve been aware. But I’m still learning. Lets’ just come out and admit it. Let’s not act like it’s not there. Confederate flag is heritage? That’s fine, ok. But you can go all over the world: the second-place statues, the flags, they eradicate it.
2 weeks ago – via Henry Abbott @ TrueHoop

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And now, as the NBA contemplates an unprecedented return amid a global pandemic and boiling racial unrest following the death of George Floyd when in the custody of Minneapolis police, the Nuggets’ veteran is beyond tired. Tired of witnessing the same cycle, over and over. “I don’t see us going down there and wearing George Floyd T-shirts before the games and then after a game, being interviewed, saying we need to change,” Barton told The Denver Post in a wide-ranging interview. “I’ll tell you right now, I don’t really see that helping. I feel like it’s too late in the ballgame. We’ve been going through this for 400-plus years now. I feel like the only way for real change is going to come is a revolution.”
2 weeks ago – via Mike Singer @ Denver Post

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Barton, while not calling for violence, distilled his message further by posing a hypothetical question he wanted all white people to ask themselves: “If Black people in America were to say today, ‘We’re going to war. We’re going to war, not with white people, (but) with racist America. Would you stand and fight with Black people against racists or would you be out of the way? Would you put your life on the line for a black person for what’s right or what’s wrong?”
2 weeks ago – via Mike Singer @ Denver Post

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It started eight months ago with a tweet: Chris Murphy, a Democratic U.S. senator from Connecticut, told the world how much he enjoyed Draymond Green’s op-ed in The Washington Post labeling the NCAA “a dictatorship” and calling for increased compensation to college athletes. Green reached out to Murphy’s office to thank him for the tweet. Murphy is a huge sports fan — the Boston Celtics are his NBA team — so he was thrilled to hear from an All-Star on the three-time champion Golden State Warriors. They have been collaborating since.
2 weeks ago – via Zach Lowe @ ESPN

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