When Kyrie Irving voiced his opinion about not playing in the Disney bubble so the NBA wouldn’t pull attention away from the ongoing social justice movement in America, players and media took sides — to play or not to play.
Irving’s Brooklyn Nets teammate Garrett Temple — both of whom are vice presidents of the National Basketball Players Association — was among those supporting the league’s restart. Although the two had different opinions about the direction to take, Temple believes he and Irving were on the same side.
Both want to push social justice, and both feel the Black Lives Matter movement has momentum that needs to be maintained.
Garrett Temple said he and fellow NBPA VP Kyrie Irving – along with just about every other black man in the #NBA – both want the same thing. There were just discussions about how to get it. “There are different ways to skin a cat.” #Nets
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) July 5, 2020
The difference is simply approach. Temple made clear to reporters on a Zoom call on Sunday that activism and playing basketball aren’t “mutually exclusive,” per Brian Lewis of the New York Post:
We can get more done by playing than not playing. … You can make money, and use that money to help your community.
Garrett Temple on Zoom call: things are different after George Floyd. Not that another black man was killed but that white Americans have started to care.
— NetsDaily (@NetsDaily) July 5, 2020
And with the NBA allowing players to wear social justice statements on the backs of their uniforms for the restart, the Disney bubble can help “push the narrative” like Temple believes it will, per Nets Daily.
#Nets wing and NBPA VP @GTemp17 on #NBA restart: "As black men, black people in America…this is an everyday struggle. So I think the way that we can utilize those 2, 3 months in Orlando to continue to push the narrative, to continue to have it on people’s minds."
— Brian Lewis (@NYPost_Lewis) July 5, 2020