KIGALI, Rwanda -- In the summer of 2018, inside a national arena that felt more like a small-college gym, the NBA commissioner shot free throws with the president of Rwanda. It was a meeting of disparate men with complementary motives. Adam Silver, a lawyer and NBA lifer who grew up in a wealthy New York suburb before presiding over one of the most progressive leagues in sports, was in Rwanda to build on a mission to extend the NBA's reach to every corner of the world.
The NBA, Rwanda & Sportswashing Investigative reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada examines the partnership between the NBA and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in an ESPN special report, produced by William Weinbaum. Watch it here. Paul Kagame, a former rebel general credited with stopping one of the worst atrocities in modern history but who for years had been assailed as a dictator who smothers opposition through arrests, disappearances and killings, was looking to forge a partnership that would boost Rwanda's economy and, critics say, distract the world from his human rights record.
"I'd like to host an NBA game here someday," Kagame mused, describing to Silver his ideas for renovating Rwanda's Petit Stade, the "Little Stadium." Silver's deputy, Mark Tatum, was there, too, as was Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who counted Kagame as a "dear friend." Just days earlier, Silver had signaled the NBA's plan for a new league in Africa, although he noted there weren't yet enough sufficient arenas on the continent.
As Si.