Since opinion pieces in the NYT have many times taken completely opposite sides (often in rapid succession), and the OpEd page is not considered journalism (i.e. it is opinion), I think your statement is patently false ("the NYT doesn't want...") unless you believe that the NYT wishes to be associated with all opinions. In fact that is how OpEd pages are supposed to work if one believes their readers might be able to think for themselves.

See their editorial submission page for yourself:

https://www.nytimes.com/content/help/site/editorial/op-ed/op...

"We're interested in everything, if it's opinionated and we believe our readers will find it worth reading."