After being suspended for months in response to the coronavirus pandemic, professional sports leagues are beginning to plan their return, but the timing couldn’t be worse.
Now is not the time to sit around and watch a 3-hour-long NBA game while millions of Black Lives Matter protesters continue to fight for legislative change against systemic racism and police brutality.
If you really care about the movement and pushing for change, sports can wait.
In a call with over 80 players on Friday, Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets guard and NBA Players’ Union vice president, said NBA players should boycott restarting the season on July 30 in Orlando, Florida.
"I don't support going to Orlando," Irving said on the call, according to The Athletic. "I'm not with the systematic racism and the bulls---."
Irving’s message is that if televised sports come back, it would take away focus from the Black Lives Matter movement.
And he’s right. Sports would be a distraction that would effectively allow the country to move on. Consequently, sending the wrong message of where the priorities of the NBA lie.
Many players have come to agree with Irving, notably Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard.
"Basketball, or entertainment period, isn’t needed at this moment, and will only be a distraction,” Howard said in a statement to CNN. "I would love nothing more than to win my very first NBA Championship. But the unity of My People would be an even bigger Championship, that’s just too beautiful to pass up. What better time than now for us to be focusing on our families?"
Don’t get me wrong, I love sports. I grew up 10 minutes away from the Oakland Arena and the Oakland Coliseum, rooting for the Warriors, Athletics and Raiders. I live and breathe sports.
But we got to see the bigger picture. Right now, our priorities are fighting racial inequality and the global pandemic that is seeing spikes in new cases almost every day.
In response to Irving, Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers said the money players would make from playing again could benefit the Black Lives Matter movement.
"Us coming back would put money in all of our (NBA players') pockets," Rivers commented on an Instagram post on July 12. "With this money you could help out even more people and continue to give, more importantly, your time and energy towards the BLM movement. Which I'm 100% on board with. Because change needs to happen and injustice has been going on too long."
Even though Rivers makes valid points, it still depends how much money the players will actually make.
If the NBA goes through with the proposed season restart, there will only be 22 teams out of the 30 coming back, decreasing the revenue for players. Also, fans will not attend games in-person because of COVID-19, decreasing revenue even more. Of course the athletes will make money, but most of it will go to the white team owners who inevitably benefit the most.
Some athletes, however, say that bringing back televised sports would give them a bigger platform to speak out, just like many have before, for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and, most recently, Colin Kaepernick are all athletes that have used their platforms to speak out against racial inequality.
While they did make powerful statements while playing their respective sports, a more powerful message right now would be athletes coming together while their leagues are suspended and fighting with the masses for legislative reform.
Athletes, many of whom are seen as role models, refusing to play until real systemic reform happens in our country, would put more of a focus on the issue.
If the NBA season was to return, the conversation would go from Black Lives Matter to “Who do you think is going to the playoffs?” or “Who do you think is going to win the championship?”
Don’t let the conversation change, don’t let the narrative change, don’t let the focus change.
The goal and mission right now is to finally dismantle the system that has kept Black people, people of color and minorities oppressed for years.
It’s plain and simple, sports can wait.
