Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics star, grabbed the microphone, prepared to please the group 6,600 miles from house.
“As-salaam alaikum, Abu Dhabi!” he mentioned energetically, providing a typical greeting within the area.
The group cheered. Brown, who grew up in Georgia, launched himself and thanked the group in Arabic to extra cheers.
“I’ve been engaged on my Arabic,” he mentioned later.
It was a festive starting on Friday to the N.B.A.’s third annual journey to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for preseason video games. This time the league despatched its previous two champions, the Celtics and the Denver Nuggets, together with the championship trophy and several other former N.B.A. gamers, together with the Celtics nice Kevin Garnett.
Abu Dhabi has change into the N.B.A.’s hub within the Center East. The gamers visited cultural websites, league and crew personnel met with enterprise companions, and the league showcased the work it has carried out with kids, particularly women, within the area. Abu Dhabi in flip introduced its modernization, luxurious resorts, low crime charges and dedication to non secular tolerance — a message prominently displayed at its cultural websites.
However shading the perimeters of the occasion was the murky moral area that firms enter once they do enterprise in international locations just like the Emirates, which is dominated as an autocracy with limits to freedom of expression, speech and the press, and which supplies arms to fighters accused of atrocities in a devastating civil struggle in Sudan. Criticizing the federal government or its leaders is unlawful and may result in lengthy jail sentences, and employees are sometimes topic to inhumane or life-threatening situations, in response to human rights teams and the State Division.
Because the N.B.A. expands globally, the league has confronted questions on which governments it chooses as companions. Human rights watchers have condemned its relationships in China, Rwanda and the Emirates, saying they assist repressive regimes distract from their unhealthy acts. It’s a criticism leveled at many sports activities and leisure points of interest — from the World Cup and Method 1 to Netflix and pop stars — which have more and more carried out enterprise within the area in recent times.
“They’ve carried out this unimaginable job of creating the U.A.E. and Emirates synonymous with sports activities,” Ben Freeman of the Quincy Institute, an American assume tank that focuses on international coverage, mentioned of the nation’s leaders. “Whenever you consider the U.A.E., they need you desirous about tennis. They’d love for you to consider the N.B.A.”
Calling the hassle a type of “rebranding” — it’s generally often known as “sportswashing” — Mr. Freeman mentioned the Emirates would “a lot somewhat have you ever desirous about that than all of the unhealthy issues which are additionally a part of their fame.”
Adam Silver, the N.B.A.’s commissioner, mentioned the league consulted the State Division earlier than going into a brand new nation and that the company was supportive of its presence within the Emirates, a U.S. ally.
“We consider we will lead by instance right here,” Mr. Silver mentioned. “Our American values journey with us world wide after we’re on the bottom. And in the end, it’s a choice that engagement, and we see it firsthand, is optimistic for these communities and that we don’t consider we might profit these markets by both divesting or disengaging.”
The U.S. ambassador to the Emirates, Martina Sturdy, attended Friday night time’s sport. When requested why she supported the N.B.A.’s involvement within the Emirates regardless of issues raised by human rights teams, Ms. Sturdy despatched a written response. She didn’t tackle human rights points, and mentioned her workplace was “proud” of the N.B.A.’s partnership in Abu Dhabi.
“We commend the N.B.A.’s dedication to selling common values — teamwork, sportsmanship, partnership and variety — that transcend borders and cultures,” Ms. Sturdy mentioned. She added that the league’s work increasing “entry to basketball and inspiring larger feminine participation displays the broader mission of the US to assist inclusivity and create alternatives for all.”
Although ladies nonetheless face some authorized and financial discrimination, in response to the State Division and human rights teams, the Emirates has made important reforms to laws relating to ladies in recent times. There are legal guidelines criminalizing same-sex relations, however they aren’t often enforced, the State Division mentioned.
Mr. Silver mentioned the league checked out how the broader enterprise group engaged with the nation. New York College and Microsoft each have a presence in Abu Dhabi. Warner Bros. has a theme park right here. The Guggenheim Basis plans to open a museum. The league selected Abu Dhabi over curiosity from different cities, together with Dubai, which can also be within the Emirates, and Doha, Qatar.
The Emirates’ work with the N.B.A. matches a broader sample of in search of affect in the US, Mr. Freeman mentioned.
“They’ve influenced each doable vector that there’s,” he mentioned. “They’ve this type of all-star crew of lobbyists and P.R. companies working for them.”
The Emirati Embassy in Washington didn’t reply to a request for remark. A number of public relations companies have been engaged in the course of the N.B.A.’s keep in Abu Dhabi to advertise the occasion and tourism in Abu Dhabi.
Human rights teams are skeptical that sports activities impact sufficient change in repressive international locations to make their presence a internet optimistic.
Human Rights Watch mentioned on its web site that it had despatched a letter to the N.B.A. on Sept. 30 asking the league to take motion to handle human rights points within the Emirates.
Mr. Silver mentioned the Emirati authorities didn’t impose any restrictions on the league’s operations in Abu Dhabi, and that if it did the league wouldn’t have come. He additionally disagreed that the N.B.A.’s presence helped disguise abuses.
“Sports activities brings disproportionate consideration, it appears, to points optimistic and detrimental,” Mr. Silver mentioned. “And I feel what comes with this area attracting high-profile sports activities, no totally different from the World Cup that befell in Qatar, there’s been huge quantity of dialogue round individuals’s opinions of these markets and the actions there.”
The Center East is a precious marketplace for the N.B.A. for a number of causes. As governments within the area have regarded to diversify their economies away from oil and gasoline, they’ve spent billions of {dollars} on sports activities groups and leagues and main sporting occasions. And the world’s riches generally is a boon for the league. Along with sponsorships from Emirati entities, sovereign wealth funds are allowed to purchase small stakes in N.B.A. groups.
Because it does in different markets, the N.B.A. encourages participation in basketball as a option to construct a fan base. It says basketball participation has grown 60 % within the Emirates and 54 % within the Center East since 2022, when the league started enjoying video games right here.
Each the Celtics and the Nuggets wished to be part of the journey to Abu Dhabi, mentioned Mark Tatum, the N.B.A.’s deputy commissioner.
“We’re a worldwide model, the Celtics, similar to the N.B.A.,” mentioned Wealthy Gotham, the crew’s president. “This can be a area of, type of, exponentially rising fandom outdoors of the U.S.”
The Celtics started a sponsorship take care of Expertise Abu Dhabi, an extension of the Division of Tradition and Tourism, in March consistent with discussions about enjoying in Abu Dhabi. As a part of that partnership, they unveiled a basketball court docket in Abu Dhabi throughout their journey. A Celtics brand covers middle court docket, and the remainder of the ground is adorned with designs from native blanket weavers.
The Celtics additionally visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque as a crew, and a gaggle went to the Abrahamic Household Home, which features a mosque, a synagogue and a church and promotes non secular tolerance. That journey was notably significant to Coach Joe Mazzulla, who’s vocal about his Christian religion.
“It was one of the stunning locations that I’ve been,” Mr. Mazzulla mentioned.
The Nuggets additionally visited these cultural websites and took a visit to the desert. A few of their gamers rode camels, together with the 6-foot-11 DeAndre Jordan. A Nuggets contingent together with the star middle Nikola Jokic visited Dubai, the place his former crew from Serbia performed over the weekend.
“From a enterprise standpoint, the model consciousness is unimaginable that you could construct coming over right here,” mentioned Josh Kroenke, the vice chairman of Kroenke Sports activities and Leisure, which owns the Nuggets. “And on a crew degree I feel it’s nice as a result of it will get our guys out of Denver, exposes them to a area of the world that possibly a few of them hadn’t been earlier than.”
Mr. Kroenke mentioned he had by no means been to the Center East earlier than, regardless of having some enterprise connections with the area. He was desirous to be a part of the journey and now says he can’t wait to return. He’s co-chair of the English Premier League soccer membership Arsenal, which has sponsorships with Emirates, an airline owned by Dubai’s authorities. The airline additionally sponsors the N.B.A.’s in-season match.
Mr. Kroenke declined to remark when requested about sportswashing issues.
Mr. Gotham mentioned the Celtics most popular to deal with the optimistic affect they may make.
“We don’t have a look at it politically,” he mentioned. “We have a look at it and say, ‘What is an effective contribution that we will make?’”
He talked about a basketball clinic that included 130 women and featured a panel through which a Celtics government, Allison Feaster, took half. Mr. Gotham additionally spoke at a sports activities trade convention the place, in his estimation, half the sports activities executives have been ladies.
The league’s numbers point out that its presence has elevated women’ participation in basketball. It has operated a Jr. N.B.A. program within the area for 3 years. Within the first yr, there have been twice as many boys’ groups as women’ groups. This yr, there have been 60 of every.
Practices in this system are scheduled to account for prayer occasions. The women’ applications are in absolutely feminine environments in order that gamers who put on hijabs might take them off in the event that they’d like. Shamma Al Jasmi, 15, performs whereas carrying a hijab. Her favourite participant is the Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry, whose confidence and capturing vary she admires.
Ms. Al Jasmi has been in this system for the previous couple of years and credited basketball with serving to her to remain afloat at school as a result of it allowed her to launch any power or anger she may really feel.
“Basketball has a special a part of my coronary heart,” she mentioned. “It’s simply so particular to me.”