NBA players and coaches have been more vocal than ever about political and social issues. The movement started a while ago with the players of a predominately African-American league voicing concerns over the shooting of unarmed black men at the hands of police.
In the current political climate after a presidential election that left many stunned, the voices have grown louder. Players and coaches have reacted to the election, to the president’s executive order to ban immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries, and to various other situations within the US government.
Many other professional sports leagues would distance themselves from these regards, but the NBA has been the most progressive. League commissioner Adam Silver once again reiterated his stance on league employees publicly speaking about these topics.
Following via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk:
“I am incredibly proud of them — and same for owners, by the way, and many of them are Republican and conservative, and they speak out in their own way, and I am comfortable [with it],” Silver said. “Personally, from the things that NBA league offices have been involved in, I may be naive sometimes, but I have tried to express things that we have done as a function of values and principles of this league as opposed to a particular political position. Those are values that I inherited and David Stern inherited … [with] the global nature of this league, it is part of who we are.”
Silver also credited the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony for holding a forum last summer in Los Angeles that involved the police department, community leaders and community youth in an effort to ease tensions between African-Americans and police.
Silver’s stance on this subject has never changed. The NBA has been progressive in action and it has encouraged players and coaches to do the same. That’s promising especially in the environment that the country is currently placed in. Kudos to Adam Silver and the NBA.
