KIGALI, Rwanda — In the summer of 2018, inside a national arena that felt more like a small-college gym, the NBA commissioner shot free throws with the president of Rwanda.

Adam Silver, a lawyer and NBA lifer who grew up in a wealthy New York suburb before presiding over one of the most progressive leagues in sports, was in Rwanda to build on a mission to extend the NBA’s reach to every corner of the world.

Investigative reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada examines the partnership between the NBA and Rwandan President Paul Kagame in an ESPN special report, produced by William Weinbaum. Watch it here.

Paul Kagame, a former rebel general credited with stopping one of the worst atrocities in modern history but who for years had been assailed as a dictator who smothers opposition through arrests, disappearances and killings, was looking to forge a partnership that would boost Rwanda’s economy and, critics say, distract the world from his human rights record.

“I’d like to host an NBA game here someday,” Kagame mused, describing to Silver his ideas for renovating Rwanda’s Petit Stade, the “Little Stadium.” Silver’s deputy, Mark Tatum, was there, too, as was Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who counted Kagame as a “dear friend.”

Just days earlier, Silver had signaled the NBA’s plan for a new league in Africa, although he noted there weren’t yet enough sufficient arenas on the continent. As Silver and his colleagues looked around Petit Stade, they told Kagame a mere upgrade wouldn’t do.

Reanda, one of the world’s poorest countries, needed an NBA-style arena with at least 10,000 seats and all the extras: suites, high-speed Wi-Fi, plush locker rooms, concessions and so on. And they described to Kagame a way to pay off the project: create the kinds of vibrant retail and housing developments now common around U.S. sports venues.

Within minutes, several members of Kagame’s cabinet appeared at Petit Stade, including a minister who carried renovation plans for the arena. Kagame turned to the minister and told him, “OK, you’re going to the United States. We’re doing something different than this.”

Just one year later, as only a leader with total control of his country can do, Kagame christened a $104 million arena down the road from Petit Stade. The project was central to launching the now 4-year-old Basketball Africa League, and it cemented a dissonant international partnership that requires Silver and his league to look past injustices far worse than those they actively oppose at home, while helping Kagame burnish his image around the world.

ESPN examined the partnership for more than a year, interviewing NBA executives and coaches, Rwandan officials and opposition figures, U.S. government sources, human rights experts and investors in the NBA’s Africa business — valued at nearly $1 billion as of 2021. ESPN also reviewed U.S. and international human rights reports and traveled twice to Rwanda.

Kagame initially agreed through a spokesperson to be interviewed but ultimately declined.