By Tanua Ganguli
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics star, grabbed the microphone, ready to delight the crowd 6,600 miles from home.
“As-salaam alaikum, Abu Dhabi!” he said energetically, offering a common greeting in the region.
The crowd cheered. Brown, who grew up in Georgia, introduced himself and thanked the crowd in Arabic to more cheers.
“I’ve been working on my Arabic,” he said later.
It was a festive beginning on Friday to the NBA’s third annual trip to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for preseason games. This time the league sent its past two champions, the Celtics and the Denver Nuggets, along with the championship trophy and several former NBA players, including Celtics great Kevin Garnett.
Abu Dhabi has become the NBA’s hub in the Middle East. The players visited cultural sites, league and team personnel met with business partners, and the league showcased the work it has done with children, especially girls, in the region. Abu Dhabi in turn presented its modernization, luxury resorts, low crime rates and commitment to religious tolerance — a message prominently displayed at its cultural sites.
But shading the edges of the event was the murky ethical space that companies enter when they do business in countries like the Emirates, which is ruled as an autocracy with limits to freedom of expression, speech and the press, and which provides arms to fighters accused of atrocities in a devastating civil war in Sudan. Criticizing the government or its leaders is illegal and can lead to long prison sentences, and workers are often subject to inhumane or life-threatening conditions, according to human rights groups and the State Department.
As the NBA expands globally, the league has confronted questions about which governments it chooses as partners. Human rights watchers have condemned its relationships in China, Rwanda and the UAE, saying they help repressive regimes distract from their bad acts. It is a criticism leveled at many sports and entertainment attractions — from the World Cup and Formula One to Netflix and pop stars — that have increasingly done business in the region in recent years.
“They’ve done this incredible job of making the UAE and Emirates synonymous with sports,” Ben Freeman of the Quincy Institute, an American think tank that focuses on foreign policy, said of the country’s leaders. “When you think of the UAE, they want you thinking about tennis. They would love for you to think about the NBA.”
Calling the effort a form of “rebranding” — it is sometimes known as “sportswashing” — Freeman said the UAE would “much rather have you thinking about that than all the bad things that are also part of their reputation.”
Adam Silver, the NBA’s commissioner, said the league consulted the State Department before going into a new country and that the agency was supportive of its presence in the UAE, a U.S. ally.
“We believe we can lead by example here,” Silver said. “Our American values travel with us around the world when we’re on the ground. And ultimately, it’s a decision that engagement, and we see it firsthand, is positive for these communities and that we don’t believe we would benefit these markets by either divesting or disengaging.”
The U.S. ambassador to the UAE, Martina Strong, attended Friday night’s game. When asked why she supported the NBA’s involvement in the UAE despite concerns raised by human rights groups, Strong sent a written response. She did not address human rights issues, and said her office was “proud” of the NBA’s partnership in Abu Dhabi.
“We commend the NBA’s commitment to promoting universal values — teamwork, sportsmanship, partnership and diversity — that transcend borders and cultures,” Strong said. She added that the league’s work expanding “access to basketball and encouraging greater female participation reflects the broader mission of the United States to support inclusivity and create opportunities for all.”
Although women still face some legal and economic discrimination, according to the State Department and human rights groups, the UAE has made significant reforms to legislation regarding women in recent years. There are laws criminalizing same-sex relations, but they are not usually enforced, the State Department said.
Silver said the league looked at how the broader business community engaged with the country. New York University and Microsoft both have a presence in Abu Dhabi. Warner Bros. has a theme park here. The Guggenheim Foundation plans to open a museum. The league chose Abu Dhabi over interest from other cities, including Dubai, which is also in the UAE, and Doha, Qatar.
The UAE’s work with the NBA fits a broader pattern of seeking influence in the United States, Freeman said.
“They have influenced every possible vector that there is,” he said. “They have this sort of all-star team of lobbyists and PR firms working for them.”
The Emirati Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment. Several public relations firms were engaged during the NBA’s stay in Abu Dhabi to promote the event and tourism in Abu Dhabi.
Human rights groups are skeptical that sports effect enough change in repressive countries to make their presence a net positive.
Human Rights Watch said on its website that it had sent a letter to the NBA on Sept. 30 asking the league to take action to address human rights issues in the Emirates.
Silver said the Emirati government did not impose any restrictions on the league’s operations in Abu Dhabi, and that if it did the league would not have come. He also disagreed that the NBA’s presence helped hide abuses.
“Sports brings disproportionate attention, it seems, to issues positive and negative,” Silver said. “And I think what comes with this region attracting high-profile sports, no different from the World Cup that took place in Qatar, there’s been enormous amount of discussion around people’s opinions of those markets and the activities there.”
The Middle East is a valuable market for the NBA for several reasons. As governments in the region have looked to diversify their economies away from oil and gas, they have spent billions of dollars on sports teams and leagues and major sporting events. And the area’s riches can be a boon for the league. In addition to sponsorships from Emirati entities, sovereign wealth funds are allowed to buy small stakes in NBA teams.
As it does in other markets, the NBA encourages participation in basketball as a way to build a fan base. It says basketball participation has grown 60% in the Emirates and 54% in the Middle East since 2022, when the league began playing games here.
Both the Celtics and the Nuggets wanted to be a part of the trip to Abu Dhabi, said Mark Tatum, the NBA’s deputy commissioner.
“We’re a global brand, the Celtics, just like the NBA,” said Rich Gotham, the team’s president. “This is a region of, sort of, exponentially growing fandom outside of the U.S.”
The Celtics began a sponsorship deal with Experience Abu Dhabi, an extension of the Department of Culture and Tourism, in March in line with discussions about playing in Abu Dhabi. As part of that partnership, they unveiled a basketball court in Abu Dhabi during their trip. A Celtics logo covers center court, and the rest of the floor is decorated with designs from local blanket weavers.
“From a business standpoint, the brand awareness is incredible that you can build coming over here,” said Josh Kroenke, the vice chair of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Nuggets. “And on a team level I think it’s great because it gets our guys out of Denver, exposes them to a region of the world that maybe some of them hadn’t been before.”
Kroenke said he had never been to the Middle East before, despite having some business connections with the region. He was eager to be part of the trip and now says he can’t wait to return. He is co-chair of the English Premier League soccer club Arsenal, which has sponsorships with Emirates, an airline owned by Dubai’s government. The airline also sponsors the NBA’s in-season tournament.
Kroenke declined to comment when asked about sportswashing concerns.
Gotham said the Celtics preferred to focus on the positive impact they could make.
“We don’t look at it politically,” he said. “We look at it and say, ‘What is a good contribution that we can make?’”
He mentioned a basketball clinic that included 130 girls and featured a panel in which a Celtics executive, Allison Feaster, took part. Gotham also spoke at a sports industry conference where, in his estimation, half the sports executives were women.
The league’s numbers indicate that its presence has increased girls’ participation in basketball. It has operated a Jr. NBA program in the region for three years. In the first year, there were twice as many boys’ teams as girls’ teams. This year, there were 60 of each.
Practices in the program are scheduled to account for prayer times. The girls’ programs are in fully female environments so that players who wear hijabs may take them off if they’d like. Shamma Al Jasmi, 15, plays while wearing a hijab. Her favorite player is Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, whose confidence and shooting range she admires.
Al Jasmi has been in the program for the past couple of years and credited basketball with helping her to stay afloat in school because it allowed her to release any energy or anger she might feel.
“Basketball has a different part of my heart,” she said. “It’s just so special to me.”
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