Ted Cruz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Demand NBA to Suspend China Activities Over Boycott

Washington (AFP) – A bipartisan set of US lawmakers urged the NBA on Wednesday to suspend all activities in China until Chinese firms and broadcasters end their boycott of the league and the Houston Rockets.

The open letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver came from eight US lawmakers as politically diverse as Ted Cruz of Texas and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, both from states with multiple NBA teams.

“You have more power to take a stand than most of the Chinese government’s targets and should have the courage and integrity to use it,” the letter said.

“It’s not unreasonable to expect American companies to put our fundamental democratic rights ahead of profit.”

The letter comes in the wake of a since-deleted tweet from Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.

That prompted the Chinese government to end sponsorships for the team and league and drop planned NBA telecasts in China, huge NBA logos and banner being stripped off buildings a sign of the anger.

WATCH: Dem lawmaker thanks Trump for pardon, says it came as a surprise amid re-election bid

State Department announces renaming USIP ‘Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace’

PA school faces fury after Muslim club’s pro-Palestinian display leaves Jewish students ‘shaken’

Haitian gang leader learns sentence for orchestrating kidnapping of 16 American missionaries

Illinois church Nativity shows baby Jesus zip-tied by ICE agents

GOP dismisses off-year races as Democrats eye 2026 Senate takeover

Trump to Yank SNAP Food Aid from Dem States Who Refuse to Share Data to Catch Fraudsters

Rep Nancy Mace slaps down early retirement rumor: ‘BIG FAT NO from me’

As Trump’s standoff with Maduro deepens, experts warn the next move may force a showdown

Federal Agents Flood New Orleans to Take Down Illegal Immigrant Robbers and Rapists

Dystopia: UK Woman Recalls Being Arrested by Multiple Officers for Hate Crime While She Was Naked, After Sending Harmless Text Message

Decomposed body found in Connecticut after standoff with man who opened fire at police

Adams issues orders blocking NYC from boycotting Israel as clash with Mamdani grows

US Institute of Peace officially renamed for Trump as White House moves to dismantle agency: ‘Congratulations’

Feds arrest felon illegal immigrant after seizing tens of millions in meth stashed in blackberries

After early NBA statements were seen as overly capitulating, Silver said, “I understand there are consequences from … his freedom of speech. We will have to live with those consequences. As a league, we’re not willing to compromise those values.”

The full cost might not be known for months, with the NBA having made lucrative deals to a nation of 1.4 billion that loves basketball. But the lawmakers demanded values win over profits.

“Equivocating when profits are at stake is a betrayal of fundamental American values,” the lawmakers wrote. “That you have more potential fans in China than in Hong Kong is no excuse for bending over backwards to express ‘sensitivity’ only to one side.”

Lawmakers urged Silver to take four steps to harden the NBA’s stance against China’s retaliatory moves, most notably shutting down NBA activities in China, where two pre-season exhibition games were slated to be played.

“The NBA should have anticipated the challenges of doing business in a country run by a repressive single party government, including by being prepared to stand in strong defense of the freedom of expression of its employees, players, and affiliates across the globe,” the lawmakers wrote.

They also pushed for an end to punishments to the Rockets, saying the NBA must be united against “future efforts by Chinese government-controlled entities to single out individual teams, players, or associates for boycotts or selective treatment.”