Allegations of Abuse at NBA China Academies

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2020

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A recent ESPN investigation uncovered allegations of abuse, as well as a lack of schooling for athletes at three NBA China basketball academies. The report comes at a time when scrutiny on the NBA's relationship with China has never been greater. In October Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted his support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, prompting a severe reaction from China, which included pulling NBA broadcasts from the airwaves despite the league's widespread popularity in the country. Investigations into human rights abuses in the Xinjiang province, where one of the basketball academies was located, have also prompted many to criticize the NBA's ties to China. ESPN investigative reporter Steve Fainaru brings us his latest reporting on what happened inside the NBA China academies, and how the league is addressing these concerns. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, no matter how people feel about this issue, I think it's inescapable to sort of see what's going on in Orlando and the MBA's impressive show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement, while at the same time they have a $5 billion
0:23.6	enterprise that was directly operating in a, you know, in a place like Xinjiang.
0:32.6	Xinjiang is basically the epicenter of one of the worst human rights catastrophes in the world right now.
0:40.9	For some people, there's an element of hypocrisy there.
0:48.0	That's ESPN investigative reporter Steve Faineru.
0:51.6	For the past 10 months, he and his brother, Mark Faineru Wada,
0:55.3	have been digging into the complicated issue of the NBA's business in China.
1:01.5	Today, the results of their investigation, which uncovered allegations of abuse and human
1:07.6	rights concerns at three NBA-sponsored academies there, and raises questions about the NBA's future in one of the world's biggest basketball markets.
1:19.3	I'm Pablo Torre. It's Thursday, August 6th.
1:24.7	This is ESPN Daily.
1:30.0	Steve, thank you so much for joining me today.
1:32.6	Oh, thanks, Pablo.
1:33.5	Thanks for having me.
1:34.9	You and your brother, Mark, just reported this story that is honestly as eye-opening,
1:39.9	as pretty much any feature I've read at ESPN.
1:43.2	And it's about allegations of abuse, three NBA training academies in China.
1:48.9	And all of this takes place inside the broader context of China's massive human rights violations.
1:55.7	So first question, what prompted you to start looking into this stuff in the first place?
2:01.9	Well, Mark and I, we saw, like everyone, Darryl Morey's tweet, and more than that, the impact
2:10.0	of that tweet, which I think we both felt was just astonishing.
2:14.2	Friday, Darrell Mori, the Rockets GM, tweeted Fight for Freedom Stand with Hong Kong.
	...

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