NBA commissioner presses North Carolina on All Star Game and anti-LGBT law

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver turned up the heat on North Carolina in comments delivered Thursday, effectively saying the league will move its 2017 All Star Game from Charlotte if state legislators don't overturn a controversial law critics say is among America's harshest against LGBT people. 

Silver did not provide a decision deadline, but Thursday's comments represent his most forceful statement to date. Many voices are calling for the NBA to move next year's All Star Game. Several musicians have already canceled performances in North Carolina in protest of the state law passed last month. 

“We’ve been, I think, crystal clear, that a change in the law is necessary to play in the kind of environment that we think is appropriate for a celebratory NBA event, but that we did have some time and if the view of the people who were allied with us, in terms of a change, the view of the people on the ground in North Carolina was that the situation would best be served by us not setting a deadline, then we would not set a deadline at this time,” Silver said in a meeting with reporters at NBA headquarters. 

The state bill passed last month bars cities and counties in North Carolina from passing their own rules to protect LGBT people from discrimination. It was passed in a special one-day session called by state Republicans at a taxpayer cost of $42,000. They wanted to pass the bill in time to block a city ordinance in Charlotte that would have allowed transgender people to use restrooms assigned to the gender with which they identify. 

The North Carolina controversy has since become a rallying point for both sides in America's never-ending culture war -- even leading to the firing of ESPN analyst Curt Schilling just this week. Musicians including Bruce Springsteen have canceled performances in the state to protest the new law. The United Kingdom issued a travel advisory to LGBT citizens planning trips to North Carolina. 

It all puts the NBA in a bit of a delicate situation. The league loves to present itself as a company and entertainment property that is diverse and inclusive to all -- claims it typically backs up. But All Star Weekend is one of the league's signature events, a three-day celebration of basketball, basketball players and basketball fans. Moving it to another city would be no small feat, although Atlanta has already publicly offered to serve as an alternate host. 

While Silver delivered a forceful statement, some of his concurrent comments to follow turned the stove from warm to simmer by not setting a timeline. 

“We haven’t set a date only because we think we can be most helpful to the process in North Carolina by not setting ultimatums,” Silver said, per Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post. “But what we’ve said, and I’ve been in touch, without being specific, with several different elected officials in North Carolina, and a consortium of business leaders, and the sense was that if the NBA could give us some time, the community in North Carolina were optimistic they would see a change in the law. They weren’t guaranteeing it, and my response was, the event still is 10 months from now, and we don’t need to make a decision yet.”

Not yet, perhaps, but it appears the clock is ticking. 

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