NBA Defends Partnership W/ Rwanda After U.S. Senators Raise Serious Concerns

The NBA is standing by its partnership with Rwanda -- after two U.S. Senators asked several uncomfortable questions about the deal -- with the league's answer boiling down to this ... we follow Uncle Sam's lead.

NBA Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum fired back a letter to Senators Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, and Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, after they pushed the league to rethink its ties to the East African nation.

The politicians’ beef? Merkley and Blackburn questioned The Association cozying up with a regime known for human rights abuses and alleged war crimes, saying they were "increasingly alarmed" by the marriage. They also accused the government in Rwanda of sportswashing.

Rwanda pays the NBA around $6-7 million to host Basketball Africa League (BAL) games each year in their recently built, 10,000-seat arena in Kigali, the nation's capital.

The NBA's response? They're adamant they're following the government's lead. When a military-funded BAL team was sanctioned by the U.S., that team withdrew from the league and will remain ineligible as long as the sanctions are in place.

Tatum also explained the NBA's business around the world isn't one-size-fits-all, but "in all instances we follow U.S. policy," adding the league condemns human rights violations wherever they happen.

He closed by saying the NBA will keep adjusting as U.S. policy requires.

President Paul Kagame is the man at the center of the controversy. He's led Rwanda since 1994, and has been accused of atrocities, including human rights violations and war crimes, including allegedly jailing, torturing, and killing political opponents, and funding child soldiers in the neighboring Congo.