It’s not often that an active NBA player publicly challenges another franchise for its promotional event, let alone releasing a full-fledged statement on Medium. But that’s exactly what happened today. Only a few days after the Atlanta Hawks announced ‘Magic City Night’ around their matchup against the Orlando Magic in March, San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet spoke up, and his message around ethics was crystal clear.

“This week the Atlanta Hawks “announced a special one-night collaboration to celebrate the city’s iconic cultural institution Magic City,”” Kornet wrote in his personal blog. “In its press release the Hawks failed to acknowledge that this place is, as the business itself boasts, “Atlanta’s premier strip club.” Given this fact, I would like to respectfully ask that the Atlanta Hawks cancel this promotional night with Magic City.”

For Kornet, the Hawks‘ failure to acknowledge the nature of Magic City’s operations wasn’t a minor omission but the entire issue at hand. He made it clear that the NBA, and commissioner Adam Silver by extension, should try their best to “protect and esteem women,” especially since many of them work hard behind the scenes to build the NBA into “the best basketball league in the world.”

Kornet added that allowing the event to proceed without notice or objection would reflect especially poorly on the community within the league, and also risk being seen as complicit in the objectification and mistreatment of women.

“We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love,” Kornet wrote.

This kind of appeal to the NBA and its commissioner isn’t just a critique of the Hawks’ marketing scheme, but a direct challenge to the values the NBA seems to champion. Former player Lou Williams once infamously made the headlines for visiting Magic City during an approved absence in the NBA Bubble. While Williams later clarified that he was there to just pick up some food, here we are talking about the same establishment again, years later.

Inside the Atlanta Hawks’ ‘Magic City’ promotion called out by Luke Kornet

The Atlanta Hawks planned ‘Magic City Night’ on March 16 when they face the Orlando Magic as a night of food, music, and exclusive merchandise. It is being branded as a celebration of the “institution” that has had “an incredible impact on our city and its unique culture.” The plans indicate staples like the famous lemon pepper wings, a performance and conversation with rapper T.I., and Magic City-themed hoodies.

Magic City has held an undeniable place in Atlanta’s pop culture image and ecosystem, intrinsically linked to the city’s nightlife and music scene, and to some, this collaboration is an acknowledgement of the footprint the location has left. The strip club’s DJs were initial launchpads for many famous artists’ mixtapes today, like 2 Chainz, Future, T.I., Migos, Killer Mike, Jermaine Dupri, Big Boi, and more.

The team’s Principal Owner, Jami Gertz, who worked on the docuseries ‘Magic City: An American Fantasy’ a year ago, called the celebration “very meaningful.”

To Kornet, however, things are different. According to the Spurs center, this is more about league optics than local pride, and with the NBA consistently positioning itself as a progressive, socially conscious league, it clashes with what the Hawks intend to celebrate. Kornet was also worried that the league’s fanbase included fans of all ages who watch basketball, and that this promotion might not paint the right picture.

While there is no official statement yet, if Silver and the league intervene, it draws a line in the sand about what is allowed and what isn’t.