The NBA has awarded the 2017 All-Star Game to New Orleans after pulling the event from Charlotte, according to the Associated Press:
A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that the NBA has decided to hold the 2017 All-Star Game in New Orleans. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Friday because the decision hasn’t been announced. New Orleans replaces Charlotte, which was set to host the game until the NBA decided last month that it wouldn’t hold its marquee, mid-season event in North Carolina because of a state law that limits anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay and transgender people.
The NBA is expected to make an official announcement later today. New Orleans has hosted the event twice, both of which have been in the past decade (2008, 2014).
"We embrace our rich cultural heritage and see our diversity as a virtue," Louisiana Gov. Jon Bell Edwards wrote in a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver. "Should the NBA choose to bring the All-Star Game back to New Orleans in 2017, it will strongly reaffirm its commitment to communities that value fairness and inclusion."
The NBA pulled the game out of Charlotte due to North Carolina's controversial HB2 law, which excludes LGBT people from anti-discrimination protections, blocked local governments from expanding those protections, and banned workplace discrimination lawsuits of any kind.
NBA commissioner has described the law as "problematic," and expressed their major concerns with North Carolina lawmakers after the law passed.
The league has kept the door open for bring the 2019 All-Star Game to Charlotte, but no decision on that has been made yet.
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