The latest update from Orlando was that NBA players met last night and tried to figure out a way to proceed after boycotting Thursday’s slate of playoff games due to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.

Will the NBA season continue, or come to an end? This was the latest update from Woj, who said that the Clippers and Lakers preferred to go home:

 

At ESPN, Tim Bontemps and Dave McMenamin are reporting that the NBA board of governors and players remaining in Orlando will meet at 11 a.m., separately, try to figure out where to go from here:

While some in the (Thursday) meeting wanted to know why the Bucks made an abrupt decision without consulting any of the other teams inside the bubble — including the Magic, who were on the court inside AdventHealth Arena warming up until a few minutes before the scheduled tipoff before eventually going back to their locker room — Boston Celtics forward Jaylen Brown essentially said that wasn’t necessary and fully supported their decision, sources told Wojnarowski.

Eventually, teams were polled about what their preference would be, and the Lakers and LA Clippers both voted to end the season, sources told Wojnarowski, though sources stressed that no final decision on what will happen with the remainder of the season has been made.

Afterward, a source present for the meeting told ESPN there was “no sense of accomplishment” after the meeting, and added there would be a feeling of “uncertainty” until after Thursday’s meetings.

Some thoughts, in no real order:

  1. Obviously they have to come to a consensus on what to do. If some teams go and some teams stay, it defeats the purpose of a unified response.
  2. They’ve put a lot of time and effort into making the bubble work. A lot of guys were questioning whether they should go in the first place, because they didn’t want the Black Lives Matter movement to lose steam while isolated in Orlando. Maybe, in hindsight, they should have just stuck to their guns in the first place, instead of spending a couple of months in a hotel room before ultimately deciding to bag it anyway. Hard to say.
  3. If they refuse to play, how much money are they leaving on the table? Will there even be financial penalties? A good portion of this money is donated to various charities and foundations.
  4. When your platform is sport, and you give up sport, are you giving up your platform? I see that argument out there, and it’s a curious one. For instance, if Jaylen Brown goes home to Boston, does he command more or less attention than he would during a playoff media session or post game interview? It’s an interesting thought.
  5. Apparently players are looking for NBA owners to do more, which might seem a little strange or misguided on the surface, but these are influential rich guys who are part of the 1% of America’s elite, and they certainly do have power to influence lawmakers and bring about meaningful change. A lot of them, to their credit, do give away millions to good causes on a yearly basis, so I guess the argument would be centered on what they’re currently doing, and whether it’s enough.

“Raising awareness” I think we’d agree is mostly hollow, and it comes with diminishing returns. What happens after everybody is made aware of an issue? I think there’s a large portion of fans who will simply just watch other sports or find something else to do with their time if the NBA is not on TV. They’re aware, they just don’t give a shit, which might sound crass, but it’s true. People aren’t being “forced to listen” when they can simply just change the channel instead.

That’s why the focus should be on providing a tangible list of changes that can be made to improve a situation that is not tenable right now, i.e. ‘here’s how we can improve police training, or make the body camera program more comprehensive, or budget our available assets in this specific way.’ We’re not “abolishing the police” or doing any of this pipe dream stuff that’s being shouted in the streets, which only serves as an echo chamber for hyper-partisan feelings. You’re trying to reach the average American who is sitting at home saying, “I hear you, I just don’t know what you want from me.” They don’t have millions of dollars or a big platform, so you have to be specific. Ask them to vote, volunteer, or call up their local dipshit politician and tell them they’re doing a horrible job.

That’s really the point, that symbolic gestures only take you so far, and this right here is a great example of meaningful action:

Now that’s what I’m talking about. This is how you use your platform and your power to enact meaningful change. These are the types of actions that really truly mean something. Kudos to LeBron and these players for doing this.

At the end of the day, it’s not our place or anybody’s place to tell NBA, MLB, MLS, or WNBA players how to feel or how to act. If they believe this is an important moment that demands change, then we as fans and media at the absolute bare minimum should hear them out and try to understand where they’re coming from. These are human beings and they don’t exist solely for our entertainment. But the meat of the matter is moving beyond the shallowness of “raising awareness” and identifying clear goals and realistic paths towards progress. Those are things that the average human being can think and act on. You can’t act on symbolic gestures.