Former National Basketball Association center advises Kevin Durant tweet ‘Free Taiwan’ to get traded off by Nets owner Joe Tsai
Former National Basketball Association center advises Kevin Durant tweet ‘Free Taiwan’ to get traded off by Nets owner Joe Tsai
Highlights
- Former NBA center Andrew Bogut took to Twitter and poked fun at the NBA’s extremely sensitive relationship with China with a dig at Brooklyn Nets owner, who is Joe Tsai.
- Bogut’s tweet was directed to Nets power forward Kevin Durant, who expressed his desire to be traded from the team over a month ago.
- Bogut’s tweet is considered an apparent shot at Tsai, who is a famous supporter of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Former NBA center Andrew Bogut recently poked fun with his tweet at the NBA’s extremely sensitive relationship with China.
In a tweet on Saturday, Bogut displayed an unconventional solution to Nets power forward Kevin Durant. Durant had expressed his desire to be traded from the Brooklyn Nets.
“An easy way for KD to get out of @joetsai1999’s @BrooklynNets that no NBA analyst is discussing. A simple tweet: ‘Free Hong Kong, Free Taiwan.’ Gone the next day …” Bogut wrote.
Durant indicated last month that he has lost faith in the franchise’s direction. He expressed that he wanted to play for a different team in the next NBA season. The issue of this disgruntled former MVP has been dragging on for weeks. The Nets’ management appears to have no intention to let him go.
Bogut’s tweet is an apparent shot taken at the Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai. Tsai is famous to be an ardent supporter of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
NBA player Enes Kanter is known to be an outspoken pro-Taiwan advocate. He called Tsai a “coward & puppet” of the CCP in 2021.
Tsai is a Taiwanese-born Canadian citizen. He is the co-founder of a Chinese tech firm called Alibaba. He has a history of expressing disapproval towards statements that are anti-CCP.
In one incident, former Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was denied a lodging reservation in New York after tweeting “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.” The room was reportedly canceled as per Tsai’s order. Morey’s tweet seemed to have bothered Tsai.
China is a major market for the NBA league. China generates hundreds of millions in annual revenue from Chinese fans. Principal owners in the league possess over $10 billion and are tied up in investments in China.
This is the reason why Morey’s controversial tweet was a massive blow for the NBA. The tweet led to the league being banned from Chinese state TV for nearly three seasons. It was avoided by a few sponsors.