Chris Paul hadn’t wiped the sweat from his brow after the Thunder took Game 4 from the Houston Rockets, but it didn’t matter.
The President of the NBPA needed to sound off on the shooting of Jacob Blake.
On Sunday, a video posted online showed police officers firing several shots at close range into a Black man’s back. The incident occurred in Kenosha, Wisconsin, with the shooting victim learned to be the 29-year-old.
Protests ensued shortly thereafter, with local authorities declaring an emergency and implementing curfews.
In the immediate aftermath of the incident, LeBron James took to Twitter to express his outrage, followed shortly thereafter by the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.
As the leader of the NBA Players Association, Paul was instrumental not only in the league successfully resuming play within its “bubble” in Central Florida, but also in ensuring that the fight for social justice that has become a rallying cry for many of his constituents would be strengthened by the players’ participation.
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) August 24, 2020
So it made perfect sense that in his walk-off interview with TNT’s Stephanie Ready, the victory was the furthest thing from the mind of Paul.
“The series is tied now. What did you find at the end of this game that helped you guys pull away?” Ready asked Paul, who immediately dismissed the question and deflected.
“I don’t know, that’s all good and well, I just want to send my prayers out to Jacob Blake and their family,” Paul said.
“The things that we decided to come down here to play for and we said we’re gonna speak on, the social injustice and the things that continue to happen to our people — it’s not right. It’s not right,” he said before pivoting to other issues.
“The win is good, but voting is real. I’m gonna challenge all my NBA guys, other sports guys, let’s try to get our entire teams registered to vote. There’s a lot of stuff going on in the country. Sports, it’s cool, it’s good and well, it’s how we take care of our families, but those are the real issues we gotta start addressing.”
15 seconds after a playoff game that came down to the wire and Chris Paul has this to say. What an incredible man. pic.twitter.com/iaQrPe2Q19
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 24, 2020
Paul echoed those sentiments when he met with reporters after the contest. According to the point guard, Thunder head coach Billy Donovan addressed the Blake shooting with his players and encouraged them to not lose sight of the fact that there are two fights — one on the court, and one off.
“Our team this morning, during walkthrough, coach addressed that, addressed that situation,” Paul said.
“He said with all these games going on, we can get shortsighted and lose sight of what’s happening, so it’s something that we discussed, we gotta continue to shed light on it and it’s not right. It’s not right, in my postgame interview I sent prayers out to that family and we gotta do something about this because these videos that keep showing up, and keep happening, it’s gotta stop.”
Paul isn’t the only player who has let his voice be heard. On Sunday, LeBron James expressed his outrage on Twitter.
“And y’all wonder why we say what we say about the Police!! Someone please tell me WTF is this???!!! Exactly another black man being targeted. This [expletive] is so wrong and so sad!! Feel so sorry for him, his family and OUR PEOPLE!! We want JUSTICE,” James tweeted.
Not even a dramatic contest and huge win took Paul’s mind away from Blake and his family.
“We’re gonna keep talking about it and fighting and making sure that people are held accountable,” he said.
At least to this point, Paul has done his part.