Ben Simmons Donates Basketball Court In China, Thanks Official Who Denies Uyghur Camps Exist

Ben Simmons recently donated a basketball court to a community in China. While the obvious joke here is that Simmons may soon find himself out of the NBA and playing in China given his countless number of setbacks, the way he went about his donation isn't exactly a laughing matter.

The Brooklyn Nets forward is donating a court to the Machang town in the Guzhous province to help grow the game of basketball certainly isn't a bad thing. Providing a place for citizens in the area a place to play hoops is a nice gesture, but Simmons thanking Chinese official Huang Ping, who praises the country's communist party and turns a blind eye to Uyghur camps existing is a terrible look.

“I’m very excited and happy to announce the court donation. Deep thanks to Ambassador Huang Ping and the Guizhou government. I first visited China to play basketball when I was 16 years old, and then again as an NBA player. I always enjoyed visiting the people, and the fans are always so welcoming, and the love for basketball there is incredible,” Simmons said during a news conference about the court donation.

Ping has been the consul general of China's New York Consulate since 2018 and has made a number of appearances at some of New York's most well-known events with some of the most influential and powerful American business leaders and U.S. government officials.

Ben Simmons donated a basketball court in China then thanked a Chinese propaganda man. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

Ben Simmons Thanks Huang Ping, A Chinese Propaganda Machine

While some in the media refuse to mention China's community party or the genocide going on in the country, Ping has a horrible history with both subjects.

The State Department under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden has assessed that China is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. The Chinese government has imprisoned over a million Uyghurs in concentration camps according to countless leaked documents, but in CCP fashion, Ping has continuously denied all claims.

"There are lots of lies here, fabricated by some people with their own political agenda," Huang said in an August 2021 interview while denying the existence of concentration camps. "As I said, there's no genocide, not a single evidence to prove that there's a genocide or something there. It's just a slandering."

He then continued to label China's communist party as "great" while claiming that the Uyghur are only being detained to receive an education.

"We get these people there to be educated. And this has been quite effective in terms of countering terrorism and in de-radicalization," Ping said. "Up to now, there has not been a single terrorist attack in exactly four years."

It's likely that Simmons had no idea about Ping's ties to China's communist party or his morals, but thanking a man who has spewed anti-American lies in the past is a bad PR move for the Brooklyn Nets guard among those of us actually paying attention.