The NBA is returning at a crazy time in the world at the moment. Everybody is dealing with a global pandemic as well as working through a ton of racial injustices since the killing of George Floyd in police custody in late May in Minneapolis.
The Philadelphia 76ers will be one of those teams heading down to the bubble in Orlando to get things going again and continue their championship chase, but there is a lot on the mind of the players at the moment. How can they focus on basketball when there is so much injustice in the world at the moment?
“Just trying to change my mentality from what’s going on and being with your family and making sure that they’re safe and racism and corona and then turning and switching to going to Orlando and playing basketball,” said Sixers forward Mike Scott on Monday. “It’s easier said than done.”
The league is trying to do its best to help raise awareness of these injustices as they have agreed to have Black Lives Matter painted on to the courts in Orlando and they have agreed to allow players to have messages on the back of their jerseys rather than last names. However, the list was made by the NBA rather than letting the players express their own message.
“They gave us some names and phrases on the back of the jerseys and that was terrible,” Scott explained. “It was a bad list, bad choice. They didn’t give players a chance to voice their opinion, they just gave us a list to pick from. That was bad. That was terrible.”
Sixers' Mike Scott on the NBA and union agreeing on pre-approved messages for the back of their jerseys: pic.twitter.com/tmScTcJkFU
— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) July 6, 2020
Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown–who has also been one of the more influential voices in this movement–heard what Scott had to say and he agreed with him. He added that he was disappointed in the list.
Jaylen Brown agrees with Mike Scott: He would like more options for players to wear on the backs of their jerseys. He says he would like to see some additions.
“I’m very disappointed in the list."
— Tom Westerholm (@Tom_NBA) July 6, 2020
This is going to be a tough time for everybody involved. There are a lot of crazy things going on in the world and that has caused the players to have issues in focusing on just basketball. Guys like Scott and Brown have an issue with what is going on and the league should have allowed the players to have their own message other than hand-picked messages, in their opinion.[lawrence-related id=34097,34076,34070]