NBA Officially Decides on New Orleans for All-Star Game Moved from Charlotte

The NBA has decided upon New Orleans as the site of its 2017 All-Star Game after pulling the annual exhibition from Charlotte.

“We embrace our rich cultural heritage and see our diversity as a virtue,” Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards wrote NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in late July to lobby for the game. “Should the NBA choose to bring the All-Star Game back to New Orleans in 2017, it will strongly reaffirm its commitment to communities that value fairness and inclusion.”

Next year’s contest marks the third time in a decade that the Big Easy plays host to the big game.

The decision to leave Charlotte stemmed from House Bill 2, legislation that restricted multiple-person public restrooms on state property to persons of the biological sex indicated on the entrance. Self-styled “transgender” individuals, who pass themselves off as the opposite of their biological sex, regarded the law as a major hassle forcing them into uncomfortable situations.

“While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business,” the NBA maintained in pulling the game from Charlotte in July, “we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2.”

Critics point to the league’s two upcoming games in China, which bans religions not organized by the state and limits women to two children via compulsory abortion practices, as proof of hypocrisy. The New Orleans Pelicans play the Houston Rockets twice in the Middle Kingdom during the preseason.

“Is the NBA implying that China’s abhorrent violation of basic human rights is acceptable, but North Carolina saying men shouldn’t use the girl[s’] locker room is a bridge too far?” North Carolina Congressman Robert Pittenger asked the NBA commissioner. “What is the NBA’s true priority? The unmistakable hypocrisy is clear to me.”

Pittenger lamented sports leagues involving themselves in political controversies. “Shame on the sports groups that allow themselves to be exploited,” he told Breitbart Sports. “Play ball!”