This is the online version of our daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Subscribe to get irreverent and incisive sports stories, delivered to your mailbox every morning. Here’s Charles Curtis.
This is no laughing matter.
Yet it is to some NBA players who should know better.
As the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund continues to throw around its deep stacks of money, sports is the target. LIV Golf, as you may remember, is funded by the PIF. There’s buzz about the NBA getting that kind of investment, with disappointing comments from commissioner Adam Silver. There was also a report that the sovereign wealth fund could buy into tennis.
This is where we remind you, as we have many times, that the country backing these funds has a horrifying human rights record that allegedly includes involvement in the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Sportswashing is the word for what’s being done here, an attempt to sweep all of that under the rug by investing in sports and making the headlines more about the money being thrown around than the horrors that lie beneath the surface.
Now, Saudi Arabian club Al Hilal has reportedly bid on French soccer superstar Kylian Mbappe for over $330 million, and furthermore, his one-year salary could be $776 million.
That’s right. One year. For that much money.
And that’s what some NBA stars decided to focus on.
Giannis Antetokounmpo: “Al Hilal you can take me.”
LeBron James tweeted a Forrest Gump GIF of him heading to Saudi Arabia if he got that kind of one-year deal.
Draymond Green? He said: “They got basketball leagues too right? I don’t [think] the ink on my contract has dried up yet.”
Al Hilal you can take me. I look like Kylian Mbappe 😂😂👀 pic.twitter.com/VH0syez3VX
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) July 24, 2023
Me headed to Saudi when they call @RichPaul4 & @mavcarter for that 1 year deal! ✌🏾🤷🏾♂️😁 pic.twitter.com/IX0VSMZYNb
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 25, 2023
They got basketball leagues too right? 😱😱🏃🏿🏃🏿💨💨💨💨💨 I don’t the ink on my contract has dried up yet 🤣🤣🤣🤣
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) July 25, 2023
Look at that. Some big names — who have been so vocal about social issues stateside — are out here joking about the money and not the history behind who’s throwing around over a billion dollars to bring a superstar to their country.
Sportswashing, complete. It’s no laughing matter.
Quick Hits: A weird MLB error after a broken glove … Barbie memes … and more.
— Ken’s Mojo Dojo Casa House from Barbie is now a meme.
— The Royals’ Matt Duffy got a fielding error despite the fact that the ball went RIGHT through his glove.
— Christian D’Andrea ranked every flavor of Hard Mountain Dew. You’re welcome.
