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When players agreed to resume the NBA playoffs this week, the decision to return to the court came with agreed-upon commitments from the league and the NBPA to help influence change following the shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Among the conditions set forth, team governors will work with local elections officials to convert arenas into voting locations for the 2020 general election to allow for a safe in-person voting option for communities to vulnerabilities to COVID.
Chris Paul, the president of the NBPA, said on Friday, based on conversations with other players, that putting a plan into place regarding voting was a key issue that players wanted to address. They wanted to increase awareness to vote and that starts with them, too.
Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers, who has been vocal in condemning racism and police brutality, said on Saturday that the league will work to get each player at the Walt Disney World Resort registered to vote.
In the meeting, it came up, ‘Let’s walk the walk. We can’t just do the talk.’ I think it was like 20% of the players voted in the last election or something like that and, to a man, we’re going to get them registered here in the bubble. We are trying to get every team registered, every player registered to vote.
It is so difficult for players because most of the time it is in the middle of the season and players are from so many different states that it is a lot of absentee voting. We’re going to get them all done. We want to get up in the 80s, 90s, 100, if possible, percentile as far as players and coaches voting.
The league and its players have also helped shed a light on voter suppression. Polling places in Texas, California and Georgia experienced long lines during the primary elections and President Donald Trump has also been against supplying additional funding for the U.S. Postal Service, which some groups view as suppressing minority votes.
The Sacramento Kings have overseen “Rally the Vote,” a non-partisan voting registration initiative that partners with “When We All Vote,” “RISE” and 20 professional sports teams from the NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, and NWSL. In addition to the Kings, the Chicago Bulls, Denver Nuggets and Milwaukee Bucks are among those teams participating.
The NBA and its players have banded together to help influence change and increase awareness for social injustice issues. The momentum is building toward stopping systemic racism and police brutality and players have had a key role in that movement.
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