Senator presses NBA exec about league's 'cozy relationship' with China: 'American people deserve transparency'

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., pressed NBA executive Bill Koenig Tuesday about the league’s ties to China, a highly debated topic for some time. 

Representatives from most of the big professional sports leagues were at the Capitol Tuesday to discuss media rights, broadcasting and streaming services across the industry.

During the hearing, Blackburn posed a few questions to Koenig, the NBA’s president of global content & media distribution, specifically about how the league has dealt with China in recent years. 

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Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., arrives to a Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting at the Dirksen Senate Office Building Feb. 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Blackburn began with some background on the situation.

"I’ve, through the years, looked at the NBA’s relationship with oppressive regimes around the globe," Blackburn said. "And, of course, you all have had quite a cozy relationship with the CCP, and we know how they censor. 

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"Going back to 2019, with Daryl Morey’s tweet in support of the Hong Kong freedom fighters, and that resulted in the suspension [of] the NBA broadcast on their state-run media channels. In recent years, it appears you all have patched that relationship up, which means there had to be some sort of deal that was there and must have been quite a deal."

Morey, who was the Houston Rockets' general manager at the time, fired off a