The NBA dives deeper into the sea of convergence:
One of the central arguments against restarting the NBA season was the momentum social justice reform had gained in the United States. Playing basketball would theoretically provide a distraction for a nation whose focus should be on combatting both systemic racism and the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and a number of players were reportedly uneasy about being part of such a distraction. Were the NBA to resume play under the circumstances, it would have to use its platform in the name of social change in order to satisfy those players. Fortunately, the NBA has taken significant steps in that arena.
On Saturday, it was reported that players will be able to include social justice messages on the backs of their jerseys at Disney. That decision, while powerful, puts the onus on players. The league itself needed to send a message of solidarity, and is doing so with its latest decision. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Zach Lowe and Ramona Shelburne, the league plans to paint “Black Lives Matter” on both sidelines on all three of the courts they will be using at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
Brave. And stunning. Thank you for this.
And when attendance and television viewership plunge off a cliff, the coronavirus, not the obvious corporate cancer, will be blamed. I’d like to say that I will henceforth be ignoring the National BLM Association, but I haven’t paid any attention to the NBA since Michael Jordan retired the second time.