Mark Cuban defends NBA's China partnership despite opposing 'Chinese and all human rights violations'

Dallas Mavericks minority owner Mark Cuban doubled down on his public approval for the NBA's partnership with China on Monday.

During a long and wide-ranging group thread on X that began earlier this week, Cuban was confronted with a question of whether he approves of the NBA's business partnerships with China amid human rights violations that have occurred under the current regime. 

The question was asked by Chuck Flint – former chief of staff to Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn, who has been a strong opponent of the NBA's partnership with China.

Flint's question specifically pointed to the NBA-backed training camps in Xinjiang, where the Chinese government represses the Uyghur population, which the U.S. government has deemed as genocide. 

"I have said I'm against Chinese and all human rights violations. The NBA exports content to China and gets paid for it. I'm ok with that," Cuban wrote in response. In that same post, Cuban promoted a film he claims to have produced about Chinese influence in the American stock market. 

Cuban's response was the result of a branching dialogue of different mentions, responses and re-shares with captions that originated from a single post of him posing with former President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. 

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Cuban clarified that the post did not mean he is endorsing Trump. 

Meanwhile, Cuban has been complicit and an advocate of the NBA's partnership with China despite multiple human rights violations that include the Uyghur genocide, coercive population control through forced abortion, forced sterilization, and involuntary implantation of birth control and forced labor in facilities nearby or affiliated with internment camps. All of those violations have been documented and recognized by the U.S. Department of State.

Cuban's team has embraced its relationship with the Chinese government and taken aim at tapping into the country's market so much that in 2018, it even re-branded itself with a new name to target the Chinese demographic. The change switched the team's translated name from "Little Cows" to "Lone Ranger Heroes."

Cuban previously defended the NBA's business with the communist regime in an interview on Megyn Kelly's podcast in October 2020. 

"They are a customer. They are a customer of ours," Cuban said. "And guess what, Megyn? I’m okay with doing business with China. You know, I wish I could solve all the world’s problems, Megyn. I’m sure you do too. But we can’t. And so we have to pick our battles."

In that same interview, Cuban did not condemn the genocide in Xinjiang specifically when asked if he would condemn the regime for that issue. 

"I personally put a priority on domestic issues. When it comes to human rights, I’m against all human rights violations around the world. China’s not the only country with human rights violations," Cuban said. "The way proclamations work in this country, the minute you say them anywhere, you’re going to use this as a headline."

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A 2022 ESPN investigation found that NBA owners had more than $10 billion tied up in China, including one owner whose company has a joint venture with an entity that has been sanctioned by the U.S. government. Another ESPN investigation in July 2020 found that one of the basketball training camps in Xinjiang was called "a sweat camp for athletes," by a coach who was stationed there. At least two coaches left their positions in response to what they believed was mistreatment of young players.

Concerns have also grown about the use of forced Uyghur labor in the making of sports apparel for firms like Nike, whose products are then used by the NBA.

Cuban's refusal to condemn China coincides with a lack of any major figures in the NBA ever condemning China for its violations or the league's business with the country, including superstar LeBron James. 

In a rare instance of an NBA executive being linked to opposition to it, the Asian country responded harshly. 

In October 2019, former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey posted a photo on social media in support for protestors in Hong Kong against the Chinese government. Shortly after, Morey's tweet was deleted, then the Chinese Basketball Association announced that it would be suspending all cooperation with the Rockets. Morey was eventually made to apologize, and the NBA put out a statement characterizing his tweet as "regrettable" and clarifying that his support for Hong Kong protesters "does not represent the Rockets or the NBA." The Rockets even reportedly considered firing Morey in an effort to appease the Chinese, according to multiple reports. 

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Meanwhile, former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom testified before congress in July 2023 arguing that his criticism of China for its treatment of Uyghur Muslims has affected his NBA career. 

"After the third game, one of my teammates walked up to me and said, ‘Enes, you know this is your last year in the NBA right, if you ever criticize China, NIKE then you never gonna be able to play basketball in this league. So have fun, smile and I hope we win a championship this year because this is your last year, and your basketball career is going to end," Kanter wrote in his written testimony to Congress. 

Kanter was released by the Houston Rockets in February 2022 and has not played in the NBA since then. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said that Freedom’s departure from professional basketball has nothing to do with his stance on China.

Outside of Kanter and Morey, there have been very few instances of a major figure in the NBA speaking out against China since then, and several NBA stars, including Cuban's own Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic, have made trips to China as part of the NBA China Games. 

Back in February, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai told reporters that the NBA is "in a very good place" in its relationship with China, more than four years after Beijing took the league's games off-air following Morey's remarks.

"China is actually the NBA’s biggest fan base. So what happened before, I think it's water under the bridge," Tsai said. 

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s top official in the U.S. is warning that China has ramped up its aggression toward the island, and that its people are ready to fight. Taiwan’s ministry of defense tracked eight Chinese military aircraft and two naval ships near the island earlier this week. The defense ministry said four of the eight planes crossed the median line dividing China and Taiwan’s territory in the Taiwan Strait – though Beijing, which claims ownership of Taiwan, does not recognize the geographic delineation, Fox News Digital previously reported.

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