All eyes were guaranteed to be on the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz on Thursday as they stepped onto the court for the first official contest in the NBA’s restart at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida. But it was the moves they made before the first whistle that will have the lasting impact.
The two teams, coaches and players alike, made a joint and powerful statement during the national anthem, kneeling together side-by-side in front of the “Black Lives Matter” logo at center court.
Some players draped arms over one another, others closed their eyes and many bowed their hands. But together, they left a lasting image that will be oft-repeated inside the bubble in the coming months.
“Well we knew we were going to be the first game and we would have an opportunity to make a statement,” JJ Redick said after Thursday’s contest. “I know there were some guys like Jrue (Holiday) that worked in conjunction with the union to talk to Donovan (Mitchell). Quin (Snyder) and Alvin (Gentry) talked. I talked to (Chris Paul) last night just about our placement and where we were going to be. We wanted to make sure that the Black Lives Matter, that graphic on the floor, was included as we knelt during the anthem.
“To be honest, for me, it was an emotional thing. For an NBA pregame to have that, it’s a first and I’m proud to be apart of this league.”
The Pelicans would fall on the night, 106-104, but as many questions after the game were about the pre-game as they were about the fourth quarter or Zion Williamson.
“As I said before, it’s a platform for the players,” Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry said. “Every coach down here and every coach that is not down here, the eight that are not down here, are very supportive of the players. We stand the players and we stand by their platform and everything they’re trying to make sure that everyone is aware of in this country. Obviously, that is social justice and racism that is running rampant.
“So, we support them in every way and I thought it was something, as I said, it showed the unity the coaches and players have in this league.”
The decision to kneel has been a divisive one since Colin Kaepernick first began doing so during the NFL preseason in 2016. Kaepernick has found himself jobless after opting out of his deal in March of 2017.
Since then, a handful of athletes across multiple sports followed his lead. But in the wake of George Floyd’s murder during the NBA’s four-month break, part of the agreement for the players to continue the season was being afforded a platform to continue shedding light on social justice matters.
And if Thursday’s move by the Jazz and Pelicans leads some to speak out against kneeling during the anthem, Gentry had strong words for those detractors.
“Well, number one, I think we know what the narrative is and anybody that tries to make it anything different is full of [expletive],” Gentry said. “I don’t know any other way to say it but that. I know what these guys are all about and they’re all about equal justice, they’re all about systemic racism that is running rampant and they want to do something about it. Anybody that makes it anything other than that, they have no idea what they’re talking about.”
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