Nets Owner Joe Tsai and the NBA’s China Conundrum

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2022

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For decades the NBA has been in an intricate, expensive dance with China’s government. While the league has become wildly popular in China, its business there is increasingly complicated over issues like free speech and China’s record on human rights. If there’s one man who personifies the layers and complexities of NBA-China relations it’s Joe Tsai, the Chinese billionaire who owns the Brooklyn Nets. ESPN investigative reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada breaks down the ties of Tsai’s company, Alibaba, to the Chinese government, and his stance on social and political issues in China compared to the US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	ESPN Daily is presented by Supercuts, the smarter, easier way to get a haircut.
0:06.9	It's not just any haircut.
0:08.8	It's supercuts.
0:11.4	Mark Vayneruata, Game 2 of what feels like the most dramatic series in the entire NBA
0:16.4	postseason is tipping off tonight.
0:18.8	We have the Brooklyn Nets looking to avenge their last second loss to the Boston Celtics
0:23.1	in Game 1.
0:24.1	But I actually brought you here to talk about a figure who is even more significant
0:28.9	to the Nets than Kyrie Irving or Kevin Durant.
0:36.1	Joseph Sy, the owner of the team, took full control of the Nets more than two and a half
0:41.0	years ago in August 2019.
0:44.5	I remember Mark, NBA executives, feeling ecstatic.
0:48.4	Like they had just won something enormous.
0:51.0	So what was so thrilling about someone like Joe Sy taking over an NBA team in the first
0:55.8	place?
0:57.1	I think you have to remember the context of this is that basketball is enormous in China,
1:02.1	right?
1:03.5	Mark Vayneruata is an investigative reporter for ESPN.
1:07.8	And so Joe Sy, here is this figure who owns a company named Ali Baba.
1:12.2	And if you haven't heard of Ali Baba, it's like Amazon on steroids.
1:15.2	That's what it's been compared to.
1:17.4	It's a Chinese e-commerce company.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ESPN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ESPN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.