Senator Josh Hawley said in an interview on Monday that he would support a Senate subpoena of Adam Silver to investigate the NBA's business with China.

Hawley called a Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena of Silver a “great idea.” Hawley also said that the NBA owes the government more clarity about the size of its business dealings in China.

“This is big-time money for the NBA, and I think we do deserve to know exactly what they’re making,” Hawley said. “And we deserve to have them explain to us why they won’t stand up to this authoritarian regime.”

Hawley criticized the NBA over its relationship with China and his profile was raised when ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski responded to a letter the Missouri senator sent to Adam Silver on the matter.

“If the NBA’s going to put these social justice statements on the back of uniforms, which is what they’re doing now, why is it that there’s nothing on there about free Hong Kong or the Uighurs or anything that has to do with the billions of dollars the NBA makes in China?” Hawley said Monday. “And you see the response from the reporter, and now ESPN, and say oh, you know, well, the reporter, we’ll take care of that. We’ll silence him. But they don’t want to address the core issue, which is the NBA’s relationship with China. ESPN has a slice of that pie.”