There was once a time when professional athletes did their best to stay out of politics.
Those days are long gone.
On Thursday, Thunder point guard and NBPA President Chris Paul publicized a video of him accompanying Vice President Joe Biden to the Carole Hoefner Center in Charlotte, North Carolina — Stephen Curry’s hometown.
Back in 2019, Curry renovated the center and invested in the basketball facilities in order to help provide future generations with state of the art facilities to ply their trade.
Paul and Mr. Biden took a trip to the center and met with a basketball team comprised of high schoolers with Paul encouraging them to get involved in politics and vote when they get the opportunity.
While there, Paul did a Facetime call with Curry, who echoed the sentiments.
Paul’s appearance and subsequent publicizing of the video is the latest endeavor in which Paul took a political stand and let it be known who he plans on voting for as Election Day approaches on Nov. 3.
Since before the league took its competition to Orlando, Paul and many of the league’s stars became critical of President Donald Trump and outspoken in their advocacy for Black Lives Matter and against police brutality. That has led to quite a few of them publicly expressing support for Mr. Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris.
“.@JoeBiden great to be with you back home last week in NC!! @stephencurry30 missed you but you know what had to stop by your gym! The election of our lifetime. Vote for @joebiden and @kamalaharris!! iwillvote.com,” Paul tweeted.
.@JoeBiden great to be with you back home last week in NC!! @stephencurry30 missed you but you know what had to stop by your gym! The election of our lifetime. Vote for @joebiden and @kamalaharris!! https://t.co/vT4zN5bRcd pic.twitter.com/qHTuKHSrZZ
— Chris Paul (@CP3) October 8, 2020
Like Curry, Paul hails from North Carolina. The two developed a bit of a rivalry in the NBA’s Western Conference but were obviously able to put their professional differences aside in order to deliver an important message to the young North Carolinians.