The NBA, which moved this year’s All-Star Game over the same issue, is warning Texas that a proposed bill could cost the state future league events.
This weekend, the eyes of the basketball world will be in New Orleans for the annual All-Star Weekend. Of course, it was a weekend that was scheduled to be in Charlotte this year until the NBA moved it over that state’s passage of a controversial bathroom bill required people to use the bathroom of their birth gender – a direct shot at the transgendered community.
The league, which has made a major push of late under commissioner Adam Silver to promote inclusiveness, joined other organizations likes the NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference in moving major events from the state in response. Now, another state’s plan to pass a similar bill is getting a similar response from the NBA.
As the state of Texas considers a ‘bathroom bill’ that looks an awful lot like the one from the Tar Heel State, officials from the NBA are joining the NFL in saying that such a move could mean no events from the league coming to the state (h/t ESPN):
"NBA spokesman Mike Bass said an environment where people are treated “fairly and equally” weighs heavily when the league chooses host locations."
The state has hosted three of the last 11 All-Star weekend entering this year – Houston hosting twice in 2006 and 2013 and Arlington hosting in 2010 – and currently has three franchises playing in the Lone Star State. While the league would never move a franchise over the issue, you can bet that would be the only NBA action taking place if such a law passed.
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Already, the state of North Carolina – led by a new governor after the previous one who championed the bill was narrowly defeated – has begun to explore ways of modifying their law or possibly eliminating it all together. Even with the state of Texas leaning more conservative politically, it might be a good idea to pump the breaks and evaluate everything first.