Let’s get one thing straight. When you see pictures of 7-foot-tall millionaires awkwardly perched on the back of a camel or holding a falcon like it’s a ticking time bomb, you’re not looking at a cultural exchange. You’re looking at a business transaction. You’re looking at the price of admission.
The NBA is in the United Arab Emirates for its fourth year of preseason games, this time trotting out the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers for the `Abu Dhabi Games`. And offcourse, the league’s PR machine is working overtime, flooding social media with glossy, postcard-perfect images. Look! There’s Patrick Ewing, a giant among men, riding a camel! There’s Tyrese Maxey, a falcon on his arm, trying his best to look stoic and not like a guy who’s terrified of getting his eyes pecked out.
They want you to see this and think, “Wow, how wonderful. The NBA is bringing people together.” But I look at it and I see a performance. It’s a carefully choreographed dance for an audience of oil ministers and sovereign wealth fund managers. It’s the league putting on its best suit and tie to ask for a check. And honestly, it’s all a little insulting.
The official narrative is always the same. The teams touch down at `Abu Dhabi airport` and are greeted with singing and beverages. It’s a "warm welcome," the reports say. A warm, professionally organized welcome, complete with handlers and a social media team ready to capture every curated moment. Knicks coach Mike Brown dutifully pulls out his phone to record it all, playing his part perfectly. Knicks, 76ers explore Abu Dhabi before preseason doubleheader
Then comes the cultural tour. The 76ers pose for a team photo in front of the stunning Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, a building of such immense scale and beauty it almost makes you forget you’re looking at a bunch of athletes who probably just want to be back at the hotel. I can almost hear the PR handler just off-camera: “Okay guys, big smiles! Look respectful! Joel, try to look like you’re contemplating the majesty of it all, not your next post-game meal.”
It's all so wholesome. No, 'wholesome' doesn't cover it—it's sanitized. It’s a version of reality scrubbed clean of any grit or complexity. You’ve got Nick Nurse and Kyle Lowry working on their golf swings on pristine greens. You have the Knicks sitting down with kids to color pictures of sneakers. It’s a masterclass in brand management.
This whole spectacle isn't about basketball; it's a high-end influencer trip. The NBA is the influencer, and the product they're selling is the league itself. The players are just props in a multi-billion-dollar marketing campaign. The trip is designed to make the league look worldly and sophisticated, a global entity comfortable in the playgrounds of the ultra-rich. But what are they really buying? And what is the league selling beyond broadcasting rights? Are we, the fans, just supposed to smile and applaud the league’s savvy international business strategy?
Here’s where the postcard starts to curl at the edges. While the Knicks and 76ers were getting their photo ops, a different kind of international exchange was happening. Two passengers were busted at the Mumbai airport with foreign currency worth over $200,000, all stuffed in their handbags. Two passengers held with foreign currency at Mumbai international airport Their destination? The `UAE`. One was headed to `Abu Dhabi`, the other to Fujairah.
According to officials, the thing that caught their eye was the "identical modus operandi." They were "intrigued." Give me a break. "Intrigued" is what you say when you don't want to say, "Yeah, this is a well-worn path for moving cash around the globe." The officials say they're investigating the source of the currency and who it was for. Good luck with that. I’m sure that’ll be a short and simple investigation with a very clear, transparent outcome.
Now, am I saying the NBA is involved in money laundering? Of course not. But I am saying that you can’t separate the glossy world of global sports from the grimy mechanics of global finance. The `UAE`, and specifically financial hubs like `Dubai` and `Abu Dhabi`, has become a magnet for the world’s capital, both legitimate and... less so. It’s a place where immense wealth, power, and influence converge. The NBA isn’t going there for the weather; they're going there because that’s where the money is.
They want us to focus on Josh Hart with a falcon, not on the fact that the region is a global hub for… well, you know. They want us to be impressed by the Etihad Arena, not to ask who paid for it and with what. Is it really just a coincidence that as sports leagues fall all over themselves to do business in the region, these stories of massive, undeclared cash flows keep bubbling to the surface? Are we supposed to believe these two realities exist in separate, hermetically sealed universes?
Let's be real. This isn't about growing the game. That’s the line they feed us, the fans, to make it all sound noble. But basketball can grow just fine without shipping two entire teams 7,000 miles for a couple of meaningless preseason games. This is about one thing: chasing the money.
It’s about tapping into a market overflowing with cash and a desire for the cultural cachet that comes with hosting major American sports. It's the same reason F1 has the `Abu Dhabi Grand Prix` and why major universities like NYU have satellite campuses there. It’s a branding play for them, and a cash grab for the league.
And I get it, it’s a business. But just spare me the sanctimonious PR about cultural exchange and bringing the world together. The NBA is a product, and it’s for sale to the highest bidder. Right now, the highest bidders are in the desert, and they’re paying for a show. The camels, the falcons, the smiling players—it’s all part of the price. The real game isn’t being played on the court.
