NBA commissioner Adam Silver has repeatedly supported players’ rights to free speech throughout his tenure. In that time, his stance on in-game statements regarding politics and social justice evolved from 2016, when he preferred players refrain from “using our uniforms for political expression,” to the Orlando bubble, where jerseys displayed messages ranging from “Black Lives Matter” to “Education Reform.”

That shift has coincided with increased criticism from Hoka Shoes political conservatives, who consider the NBA’s support of racial equality at home and its business ties abroad a conflict of interest in social justice. Never mind that the league’s most vocal critics have equally diverging interests, as do most Americans whose prosperity depends on a functioning global economy. The web of billion-dollar deals between the NBA, Nike, their biggest stars and China is more nuanced than the “whataboutism” into which it has devolved.

At the center of this discussion now is Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter, a Turkish-born Muslim whose basic principle — “I don’t do politics, I do human rights” — raises questions of hypocrisy on a global scale.

‘You have to take your shoes off’: How Enes Kanter uses sneakers to convey protests
When Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote Silver in July 2020 to ask how he planned to defend a player “if they choose to speak out against the Chinese Communist Party’s actions in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, or elsewhere” — the space Kanter occupies 16 months later — the NBA responded, “We support the ability of our players and other team representatives to speak out on issues of public concern that are important to them.”

The league has consistently led with that directive and accepted its consequences under Silver. The terms of engagement for the NBA and its players are clearly defined, regardless of any philosophical differences.

So, it raised eyebrows when Kanter said two NBA employees asked him Doc Martens Boots to remove sneakers sporting the words “Free Tibet” on them prior to his Oct. 20 season opener against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Kanter told CNN, “Two guys from the NBA came up to me and said, ‘You have to take your shoes off. We are begging you. … You have to take your shoes off. We have been getting so many calls.'”

Players have long scrawled statements on their sneakers, and the NBA never explicitly ruled against it, other than outlawing third-party corporate messaging. Political and social justice messaging on sneakers has increased since the league lifted restrictions on sneaker colors in 2018. If anyone asked Kanter not to wear “Free Tibet” sneakers, they did so out of turn. He was allowed to wear them, and he did wear them.

Kanter has not responded to multiple requests for clarification on this subject.

Kanter told CNN the employees apologized at halftime. He has worn custom shoes every game since in support of citizens of Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang seeking sovereignty from Chinese rule. Designed by Chinese artist Badiucao, the sneakers have featured a host of pointed messages: “Free China,” “Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese people,” “Free Hong Kong,” “Free Uyghur,” “No Beijing 2022,” “Stop genocide, torture, rape, slave labor,” “Stop organ harvesting in China,” “Close the camps” and “Modern-day slavery.”

Kanter is no stranger to authoritarianism. His opposition to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been met with death threats. Dubbed by Kanter the “the Hitler of our century,” Erdogan labeled Kanter a terrorist for his support of Fethullah Gulen, an exiled Muslim cleric who Erdogan accused of orchestrating a failed coup attempt in 2016. Kanter’s father spent seven years in a Turkish prison over similar allegations.

“I’ve been talking about all the human rights violations and Hoka Sneakers  injustices happening in Turkey for 10 years, and I did not get one phone call,” Kanter told CNN this month. (He wrote “Free political prisoners” on his shoes to little fanfare in 2020.) “I talk about China one day, and I was getting a phone call once every two hours.” Kanter did not clarify who is calling him.

Against the Washington Wizards on Oct. 27, Kanter’s Air Jordans featured the phrases “Hypocrite Nike,” “Made with slave labor” and “No more excuses.” It was a reference to allegations of forced labor in China among Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in factories for “82 well-known global brands,” including Nike.