Fox News host Tucker Carlson and former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom lambasted the basketball league Wednesday night for being “run by the Chinese dictatorship.”
“The corrupt NBA has finally gotten exposed and this is the evidence of how [a] 100% American made company is run by the Chinese dictatorship,” Freedom said. “And wake up, America. This is the league that you’ve been supporting and watching. Enough is enough and this is unacceptable. They are mad because finally someone from the inside, I played 11 years in this league, has finally exposed them and I’m saying it again, enough is enough.” (RELATED: Enes Kanter Freedom Praises The First Amendment, Calls It The ‘Greatest Amendment Of All Time’)
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Freedom, a center who averaged 11.2 points per game over an 11-year career spent with five NBA teams, spoke out against the Chinese Communist Party in December, which reportedly led to decreased playing time and an eventual trade to the Houston Rockets, who immediately waived him.
Carlson played a recording of the general counsel of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) talking to Freedom about “Free Tibet” shoes Freedom wore while playing with the Boston Celtics.
“I got off the phone with the general counsel of the NBA and he wants to now have a conversation about, their concern right now is not so much what you are saying off the court, but what it is you are saying on the court when you step onto the court,” Ron Klempner said.
Owners in the NBA also appear to know that certain messages draw the ire of China, especially after then-Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for protesters in Hong Kong. LeBron James reportedly raged about the tweet while China censored NBA games.
Morey eventually resigned as the Rockets’ general manager.
“China is taking a very aggressive stance, which is, ‘You want to [bleep] with us, you are out,’ right?” Milwaukee Bucks owner Marc Lasry said in a second recording played by Carlson. “Which is — I get it. It’s nothing … it’s business. So, their view is you wanna be in our country and do things, if you want to complain about us, you’re not allowed. What happens for the NBA is the NBA is in a box.”
Lasry declined to comment through a spokesman.
The NBPA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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