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NBA All-Star boycott hurt the wrong people: Christian Schneider

Will sports leagues take up causes beyond urinal freedom?

Christian Schneider

Following his MVP performance in the nearly unwatchable NBA All-Star Game on Sunday, New Orleans Pelicans forward Anthony Davis had an admission: Before the game, he had actually lobbied his teammates to help him win the award.

Anthony Davis (23) in the All-Star Game in New Orleans on Feb. 19, 2017.

“I stressed that, I think more than enough, to the guys in the locker room before the game that I wanted to get the MVP for this crowd, for this city, and I ended up doing it,” said Davis, after shattering the All-Star Game scoring record with 52 points.

But Davis doesn't have his teammates to thank — nor should he thank his "opponents," who, in a game that featured not a whisper of defense, guarded Davis as if he had a bomb strapped to his chest. For playing in front of his home fans in New Orleans, Davis should send his game check to former North Carolina governor Pat McCrory.

Last year, the NBA moved the 2017 All-Star Game to New Orleans as a reaction to North Carolina's passage of a "bathroom bill" requiring citizens to use the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender. The game had been scheduled to take place in Charlotte, but NBA Commissioner Adam Silver moved it, costing the city an estimated $100 million in economic activity, according to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority.

Regardless of what one thinks of North Carolina's law, sports leagues blackmailing states to change regulations enacted by their legislatures is a pointless endeavor that serves to harm those who might be ideologically aligned with the cause. It was actually the city of Charlotte that enacted a pro-transgender rights ordinance; it was the state legislature that reacted by passing the now-infamous HB2, requiring citizens to use the bathroom associated with their biological gender.

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What message does the NBA think it's sending, then, by punishing Charlotte? A great number of the people who are being hurt are the city's residents who love NBA basketball and oppose HB2. People in Charlotte could have marched every weekend in favor of repealing the state law, but business owners in the city still missed out on a good bit of revenue last weekend.

Suppose you're a dad in Charlotte who is not engaged in politics at all but wanted to take his kid to finally get a glimpse of Giannis Antetokounmpo. Or say you're an arena candy vendor sapped of a paycheck for the now non-existent All-Star weekend. How does it help the NBA to punish you for the actions of a few state lawmakers, especially when it has frequently held All-Star games in cities with no transgender protections? These boycotts are targeting the wrong people.

Of course, as a private business, the NBA has the right to put its special events wherever it wants. But whether it's wise to play politics is a different story. If the league had kept the All-Star Game in Charlotte, would people really have associated the NBA with bigotry and hate? Or could the NBA simply just have said it disagrees with the law and hope it is changed? (Most entertaining is the sudden realization of those on the left who, after arguing against the Citizens United court decision for years, are suddenly lauding a corporation's individual right to engage in political free speech.)

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Further, exactly how is the league going to decide on which issues to take a stand? Are the 21 states with Religious Freedom Restoration Acts modeled after the federal law (and supported heavily by Democrats in the early 1990s) now on the boycott list? Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights groups oppose those laws as ardently as they do North Carolina's bathroom law.

As of this week, there had been 88 homicides and 468 shooting victims in Chicago this year. Would the NBA dare withhold a game there until the violence subsides, or is its cultural conscience reserved for people who crave urinal freedom?

Ultimately, change will come to North Carolina only when the state's voters elect different lawmakers — this process appears to be underway, as McCrory lost his re-election bid in November. Until that political realignment takes place, the NBA shouldn't pretend it's making any positive difference to anyone other than Anthony Davis. Before it solves discrimination in America, perhaps the league should get to work providing an All-Star Game that's watchable.

Christian Schneider is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors and a columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, where this piece first appeared. Follow him on Twitter: @Schneider_CM

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