Anta, Chinese Sports Company, Adds Another NBA Athlete To Roster

China's grip on the NBA market and its athletes continues to strengthen. Anta, a growing Chinese sports company, signed another hooper to a deal. Utah Jazz guard Jordan Clarkson joined Anta for an apparel deal set to debut in the upcoming FIBA World Cup.

Clarkson, playing for the Phillippines, will solely wear the Anta brand during summer ball and possibly extend a deal for the next NBA season.

Chinese companies further their investments in the NBA product — a brand that has turned controversial in the United States because of its political platforming.

Companies like Anta, Li-Ning and Rigorer continue to add NBA athletes to their rosters. It's a growing market with 450 million fans in China (and counting).

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Anta has reached deals with NBA names like Klay Thompson, Max Strus, Alex Caruso, Gordon Hayward, Terance Mann and Kevin Garnett.

As OutKick's Clay Travis once said about the NBA and China:

"NBA players, coaches, and league officials have embraced social justice warrior-dom for the past several years, regularly denouncing American politicians and institutions for their perceived lack of left-wing wokeness.

"But one glaring hypocrisy has remained: the NBA has been unwilling to utter a word of criticism about Chinese genocide, slavery, concentration camps, destruction of democracy in Hong Kong and the lack of basic human rights in their country."

China's influence on the NBA is growing, and the signs have been apparent.

The CCP shut up one of its more outspoken opponents in recent years with so-called human rights activist and baller Kyrie Irving. Despite China's record of genocide among its Uyghur Muslim population in Xinjiang, the deeply religious Irving proudly signed his platform to Anta in July.

Irving also joined Anta as the company's Chief Creative Officer — a position set on expanding the company's influence among athletes.

The CCP also turned NBA superstar James Harden into a mouthpiece on his recent trip to China. Harden rebuked Philadelphia 76ers executive Daryl Morey, who's far from popular in China over his support for Hong Kong.

While Harden boasts his gripes about wanting to get traded out of Philly, his criticism of Morey definitely veered into playing for favor from China.