As NBA players debate whether to restart the season, Rockets guard Austin Rivers made a case that players can return to the courts and still contribute to and even help lead the Black Lives Matter movement.
Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving had led a Zoom call of players on Friday in which according to The Athletic he advocated sitting out the resumption of the season planned for next month at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex outside Orlando.
"I love Kyrie's passion towards helping this movement," Rivers posted on Instagram. "It's admirable and inspiring. I'm with it ... but not at the cost of the whole NBA and players' careers. We can do both. We can play and we can help change the way black lives are lived. I think we have (to)! But canceling and boycotting [a] return doesn't do that in my opinion. Guys want to play and provide and help change!!!!"
Rivers cited the financial ramifications of a canceled season and that there are players that need the paychecks that would be lost but added that the income could be used to help the cause.
"Us coming back would put money in all of our (NBA players') pockets," Rivers wrote. "With this money you could help out even more people and continue to give more importantly your time and energy towards the BLM movement. Which I'm 100% on board with. Because change needs to happen and injustice has been going on too long."
Rivers, along with teammates Russell Westbrook and Ben McLemore, had earlier liked an Instagram post reporting that Lakers star LeBron James believes that restarting the season will not deter him from pushing for social change. But in a statement to CNN on Saturday, Lakers center Dwight Howard argued that he does not support resuming the season.
"I agree with Kyrie,” Howard wrote. “Basketball, or entertainment period, isn’t needed at this moment, and will only be a distraction. Sure it might not distract us the players, but we have resources at hand majority of our community don’t have. And the smallest distraction for them, can start a trickle down effect that may never stop. Especially with the way the climate is now. I would love nothing more than to win my very first NBA Championship. But the unity of My People would be an even bigger Championship, that’s just (too) beautiful to pass up.”
Clippers guard Lou Williams had argued that NBA games would distract from protests.
“If we had a game today and u leave a protest to watch it. That’s a distraction. Any questions?” Williams posted on Twitter.
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June 14, 2020 at 10:13PM
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Rockets' Austin Rivers: NBA restart can help support Black Lives Matter movement - Houston Chronicle
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