Emotional letter from DRC Foreign Minister slams Adam Silver for NBA's relationship with Rwanda

Since taking over as NBA commissioner, Adam Silver has worked tirelessly to help turn basketball into a global game. As the league continues to expand all over the world, he has been called out for some of the relationships he's built.

Among the parts of the world Silver and the NBA have invested in is Africa. That said, they were recently encouraged to stop their dealings in Rwanda.

On Friday, ESPN reported that Republic of Congo foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner wrote a letter to Adam Silver regarding Rwanda.

She pleaded for the league to end its relationship with Rwanda's government, citing a recent surge of violence. In her letter to Silver, Wagner brought up all the innocent people who have been impacted when listing reasons to cut ties with Rwanda. ESPN reported:

"In her letter Thursday to NBA commissioner Adam Silver, DRC Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner questioned the NBA's morality, calling on Silver to consider whether the league's 'commitment to social justice and respect for human rights' aligns with its business ties to Rwanda, which the DRC blames for a surge in violence in its country."

"If not for your own conscience, then at least in solidarity with the innocent victims of Rwandan aggression," Wagner wrote to Silver.

In February 2019, the NBA and FIBA launched the Basketball Africa League in Rwanda.

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Adam Silver recently teased idea of NBA expanding internationally

With the Toronto Raptors based in Canada, the NBA can technically be considered an international league already. However, Adam Silver recently teased the idea of franchises popping out outside of North America.

In January, the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers held a pair of games in Paris. This was a major spectacle because it allowed Victor Wembanyama to play an NBA game in his home country of France.

Ahead of the NBA's international matchups, Adam Silver held a press conference where he discussed an array of topics. Among the things he brought up was franchises expanding into Europe.

"We might eventually have NBA franchises here, but it's not our priority right now," Silver said. "That's not something we're discussing at the moment. We'd need supersonic jets to make it work."

Over the past decade, basketball has truly spread out across the world. Looking at the current generation of the NBA, the vast majority of superstars hail from outside the United States. A short list of names includes Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid and many others.

With so many star-level talents hailing from other countries, the idea of international teams doesn't seem that far-fetched. That said, expansion of that degree likely isn't coming any time soon.