The game was originally intended to be played in Charlotte this year, but was moved after House Bill 2 passed. Despite the NBA, along with the NCAA and Atlantic Coast Conference, each agreeing to return events to North Carolina after alterations were made to the law, some groups remain concerned the repeal does not go far enough.
Equality NC and the Human Rights Campaign expressed concerns there are still inadequate protections for the LGBTQ community, as the renegotiated law does, in fact, remove a requirement that transgender people use bathrooms corresponding to their birth sex, but prohibits municipalities from enacting related legislation on their own.