In a statement released last July, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stated, “Our week-long schedule of All-Star events and activities is meant to be a global celebration of basketball, our league, and the values for which we stand, and to bring together all members of the NBA community – current and former players, league and team officials, business partners, and fans”.
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The 66th All-Star Game will be played Sunday, Feb. 19, at Smoothie King Center, home to the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. “We are grateful to Tom and Gayle Benson and the Pelicans organization and to Governor John Bel Edwards, Mayor Mitch Landrieu and the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation for inviting us back for what promised to be another exciting and memorable celebration of the game”.
“We embrace our rich cultural heritage and see our diversity as a virtue”, Edwards wrote in a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in late July.
New Orleans has hosted prior gatherings of the NBA’s elite talent in 2008 and 2014.
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled legislature approved the law, known as HB2, in reaction to an anti-discrimination ordinance passed by Charlotte officials in February that would have allowed transgender people to use public bathrooms that align with their gender identity, instead of their birth gender. We are proud that Louisiana has joined 21 other states that are fighting for basic privacy expectations for our children and families in school restrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities.
The league also announced it will make an undisclosed financial contribution and provide other unspecified support for flood victims in Louisiana, where at least 13 people have died, 30,000 people were rescued and 40,000 homes were damaged due to recent historic rainfall. New Orleans was one, and a place the National Basketball Association had been before.
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The All-Star Game itself should be a big boost for the state’s economy. The city’s vibrant culture lends itself well to the laid-back atmosphere that has come to be associated with the All-Star game and weekend in general.
