What if NBA players skipped out on a return to play and continued to demonstrate for social justice instead?

That’s what Kyrie Irving and others have suggested, according to ESPN, which documented a Friday night call in which the Brooklyn Nets guard led a discussion on how moving to a central location to finish the season might adversely affect the Black Lives Matter movement.

Some players have talked about skipping the remainder of the season because they felt it would scupper the momentum BLM has currently built, following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota and ensuing global protests and demonstrations.

In all of the discussion that followed, the thing that struck me was the idea of mutual exclusivity regarding basketball and BLM. Does one render the other unworkable? Certainly NBA players could continue to use their platform to demonstrate and push for social justice from Orlando, where they’ll have millions of eyeballs on these games when they do resume.

I had a column lined up on this topic, but Stephen A said most of what I was going to say, so watch this clip:


“You can fight the fight while still showing up to work.”

He’s right, but I wouldn’t use that phrase, “showing up to work,” which sort of cheapens the thought.

Getting in front of cameras while millions of people are watching these games affords these players the opportunity to continue their work, continue their messaging, and continue to push for change by speaking directly to America and the rest of the world. There are opportunities to talk at length on camera, or with ESPN personalities (providing widely-dispersed quotes), or make visible certain branding in the form of sneakers/shirts/etc. We aren’t exactly locking these guys in their rooms and telling them they can only eat, sleep, and play basketball, and I’m not sure BLM loses any momentum because they’re physically located in Orlando and finishing out the season.

To Kyrie’s point, we’ve seen Tobias Harris and Matisse Thybulle and others at rallies, and I think that results in meaningful images that help the greater cause. The question is whether sustaining these local efforts is effective enough to warrant a continuation in strategy at the expense of resuming the season.

No clue, personally, and that’s not something we can evaluate with any kind of data, but I think it’s certainly possible for NBA players to continue to push forward with BLM and use their platforms in a positive way even if they decide to play out the season in a central location.