Ex-ESPN star Bob Ley on LIV Golf criticism: Should the same 'outrage' be extended to the NBA?

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Former ESPN journalist Bob Ley wondered in a recent podcast interview about whether the same criticism of LIV Golf and its ties to Saudi Arabia should be applied to the NBA and its ties to China.

Ley appeared on Michelle Beadle’s podcast "What Did I Miss?" And the two former ESPN personalities talked about sportswashing amid the emergence of LIV Golf. 

The rival golf tour and the players who have joined the league have been heavily scrutinized and accused of helping Saudi Arabia use sportswashing to alleviate criticism of the kingdom’s human-rights violations. 

Many players have accepted large sums of cash to join the league, but most have downplayed money as a reason they joined the league and left the PGA Tour.

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Longtime ESPN anchor Bob Ley, right, speaks with ESPN coordinating director Chip Dean at the company's 40th anniversary celebration Friday. (Getty Images)

Ley told Beadle on the podcast the same amount of scrutiny should apply to the NBA’s relationship with China.

"The LIV Golf thing has unleashed a fury of convenient and easy outrage, not that I disagree with it at all. … It’s real easy to be p----- off and angry about LIV Golf and Saudi. All I ask for is philosophical and ideological consistency. Apply it to China consistently, LeBron," he said.

Ley mentioned the NBA’s response to former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s supportive tweet of Hong Kong protesters back in 2019. The tweet put the NBA’s relationship with China in a bind, which later opened the door to just how close the two entities were tied. The result was a blackout of NBA games in China for several