NBA players wield their power with boycott in ways ‘Black Lives Matters’ shirts couldn’t
Slogans on courts are fine. Messages stenciled on the backs of jerseys, too.
But that couldn’t convey the exasperation many Black players in the NBA feel over racial inequities and violence. On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks took a bold step, boycotting a scheduled playoff game against the Orlando Magic.
The trigger was Sunday’s shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisc. Blake, who is Black, was shot repeatedly by police, deeply troubling and angering a country still frustrated by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which set off protests around the country.
This cascaded into all three of Wednesday’s NBA playoff games being postponed. The players have decided money, competition, and the postseason can’t be more important than demanding police violence against Black Americans must end.
“If they don’t feel they’re being heard, then they’ll take drastic measures,” former Charlotte Hornet and North Carolina Tar Heel Brendan Haywood said on NBA TV. “There’s nothing more drastic than (boycotting) Game 5 of an NBA playoff.
“When you see a fellow get shot seven times with his kids in the car (as Blake reportedly was), you can’t unsee that.”
Players from the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder, scheduled to play at 6:30 p.m., left the arena where the game was scheduled around 5 p.m. A few minutes later, the NBA announced Wednesday’s schedule, which was to include Portland Trail Blazers-Los Angeles Lakers, was postponed.
Not being heard
The screaming message in all this is players feel disregarded: That real change — brutality against the Black community and being treated with discrimination and disrespect in interactions with police — isn’t happening through “Black Lives Matter” T-shirts or game-day interviews.
The anguish came through poignantly Tuesday night when Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers was asked about the Blake shooting.
“We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones denied to live in certain communities,” Rivers said. “All you keep hearing about is fear. It’s amazing to me why (Blacks) keep loving this country, and this country has not loved us back.
“It’s so sad,” Rivers continued, tearing up. “I should just be a coach, and I’m so often reminded of my color. We’ve got to do better. We’ve got to demand better.”
Demands
Wednesday’s shutdown of a playoff tripleheader was that demand. This won’t be a one-off statement. You saw it in Charlotte, when three Hornets — Terry Rozier, Nic Batum and rookie Jalen McDaniels — marched in an uptown protest in June.
You saw it when Hornets owner Michael Jordan and his Nike subdivision, Jordan Brand, pledged $100 million toward social-justice initiatives over the next 10 years.
I’ve heard Jordan be passionate dozens of times, covering him as a player and an owner. I’ve never heard him speak quite like he did over the phone, in addressing how Floyd being choked to death, with a policeman kneeling on his neck, drove him to action.
“Sure, it’s about bargaining for better policing, but it’s more. We have encountered racism to be somewhat acceptable in certain circles,” Jordan told me in June, his voice rising.
“We have been beaten down for so many years. It sucks your soul. You can’t accept it anymore. This is a tipping point.”
Wednesday, that tipping point spread through the league. Players now know their power. They’re prepared to wield it in a way never before seen in the NBA.
No one need shut up and dribble.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 6:10 PM.
