"'SPORTSWASHING' CRY AS NBA PLAYS IN UAE"

But commissioner Silver disagrees that its presence in a key market helps hide abuses

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ABU DHABI - Jaylen Brown, the Boston Celtics star, grabbed the microphone, ready to delight the crowd 6,600 miles (10,600km) from home. "As-salaam alaikum, Abu Dhabi!" he said, offering a common greeting in the region.

The crowd cheered. Brown introduced himself and thanked the crowd in Arabic to more cheers.

"I've been working on my Arabic," he said later.

It was a festive beginning last week to the National Basketball Association's (NBA) third annual trip to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, for pre-season games.

This time the league sent its past two champions, the Celtics and the Denver Nuggets, along with the championship trophy and several former NBA players, including Celtics great Kevin Garnett.

Abu Dhabi has become the NBA's hub in the Middle East. The players visited cultural sites, league and team personnel met business partners, and the league showcased the work it has done with children, especially girls, in the region.

Abu Dhabi, in turn, presented its modernisation, luxury resorts, low crime rates and commitment to religious tolerance - a message displayed at its cultural sites.

But shading the edges of the event was the murky ethical space that companies enter when they do business in countries like the Emirates, which is ruled as an autocracy with limits to freedom of expression, speech and the press.

Criticising the government or its leaders is illegal and can lead to long prison sentences, and workers are often subject to inhumane or life-threatening conditions, according to human rights groups.