Apparently the NBA is fine with its teams and leagues sharing political opinions and supporting specific causes, unless they are conservative.

The National Basketball Players Association recently scolded the Orlando Magic for donating to the presidential campaign of Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.

The union representing NBA players, whose mission is to “protect and support the rights and talents of our players, magnify the power of their collective will, and amplify their voices as leaders,” said this:

The Magic did indeed make a $50,000 donation in June to Never Back Down, a political action committee backing DeSantis’s presidential campaign in June, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. A spokesperson for the Magic said that the donation was “given as a Florida business in support of a Florida governor for the continued prosperity of Central Florida.”

The issue here is multifaceted. First, this is clearly partisan politics.

Interestingly, members of the union, including President CJ McCollum, Vice President Donovan Mitchell, and Tobias Harris, the union representative for the Philadelphia 76ers, are featured on President Joe Biden’s social media for a sit-down with Vice President Kamala Harris.

Do you think they’d call it “alarming” for a team to donate to Biden, Newsom, or any other Democratic politician or candidate? I doubt it.

As another example of partisan politics toward those who do not toe the Democratic Party line, the union will not respect or protect personal choice when it comes to the vaccine for players like Andrew Wiggins and Kyrie Irving, they are fine with promoting Black Lives Matter and criminals like Jacob Blake, they stay silent on the league’s connection to the Chinese Communist Party, they support kneeling for the anthem, and they support the league paying for abortions if they are sought in another state.

But they find it “alarming” for the Orlando Magic to make a donation to Ron DeSantis. Give me a break.

Second, this is reportedly the first donation from an NBA team to a group aligned with a politician in the 2024 presidential race and the first political donation the Orlando Magic has made in seven years. The basketball organization donated $500 to Conservative Results in 2016. Before that, federal filings show two other political donations: one in 2014 for $2,000 to Maverick PAC USA and another in 2000 for $500 to Linda Chapin for Congress.

The facts is, from January 2015 to September 2020, of the $28 million donated, $14.9 million went to Republican politicians and PACs, and over $12 million was given to Democrats.

That means the contribution to DeSantis was about 0.18% of total political donations from the Orlando Magic in recent memory, and only 0.33% of donations made to Republicans.

So why is the union singling out DeSantis? I think we can put two and two together.

Plain and simple, this is virtue signaling openly on display. They truly believe the lies perpetuated by mainstream media and the Democratic Party about the “don’t say gay” bill passed by DeSantis and his fight against Disney.

The funniest thing is that if anyone would be upset about this donation, it would be Disney, which is a major sponsor of the Orlando Magic.