The NBA might move the 2017 All-Star Game out of North Carolina after new 'discriminatory' law

The NBA's All-Star Weekend is currently slated to take place in Charlotte next February, but that may soon change after North Carolina signed a bill into law on Wednesday that repeals LGBT protections.

The league released a statement Thursday evening, voicing their disappointment in the law, noting that it "runs counter to our guiding principles of equality."

The new law blocks all North Carolina cities from allowing transgender men and women from using public bathrooms of the gender they identify as. Charlotte city government approved a bill that lets transgender individuals use the public restrooms of their choosing, but that was supplanted with the state-wide law passed this week.

In 2014, the NBA became the first major American pro sports league to employ an openly gay player when Jason Collins signed with the Brooklyn Nets and played 22 games before retiring.

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This is far from the first time that the NBA has let its social opinions be known. On Christmas Day, the league debuted television ads featuring its biggest stars calling for gun safety. In 2014, Adam Silver didn't impose fines on players who warmed up in shirts that read "I Can't Breathe" following the non-indictment of the NYPD officer who put Eric Gardner in a fatal chokehold.

The NBA has never stripped a host city of its designated All-Star festivities, so such an act would be an extremely vocal message toward North Carolina government and the LGBT community.

- By John Dorn

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