NBA head vows he will never force players to play nice with Donald Trump

On Thursday, President Donald Trump hosted the Red Sox at the White House. But many players of color abstained from the event in protest, prompting one sports journalist Steve Buckley to joke, "So basically it’s the white Sox who’ll be going."

It's the latest instance of professional athletes taking a stand against the President's racist and xenophobic statements and policies.

In a TMZ exclusive, NBA league commissioner Adam Silver said that he'd would not force players to attend a Trump event and underscored former President Barack Obama's relationship with the NBA.

"A lot of our players still have relationships with President Obama and I think it's wonderful," Silver told TMZ. "Players make their own decisions, organizations make their own decisions."

"President Obama is doing a lot with the NBA. We announced down in Charlotte at the All-Star game that he was gonna be involved in Africa with us, we're starting a league down there. He's one of our partners."