Is It Fair To Put The Onus Of The NBA's Return On LeBron James?
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00:00 The NBA is set to return, but some players have expressed concern it could take away
00:05 from the Black Lives Matter movement, most notably Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard.
00:09 For more, I'm joined by Melissa Rolden of All Lakers and Robert Littal, CEO of Black
00:14 Sports Online.
00:15 Robert, let me start with you.
00:17 Obviously, I understand those guys' sentiment, but as well as the notion the NBA could provide
00:21 a platform for a league-wide message.
00:24 Patrick Beverly tweeted, "Whatever Hoopers say, if LeBron wants to play, they're going
00:28 to play."
00:29 Is it fair to put the onus of the return on LeBron James?
00:31 Well, it's not fair, but I mean, it's reality.
00:35 LeBron James is the face of the NBA both on the court and off the court, and he's also
00:40 the biggest face of an athlete when they speak out against social injustice and racial injustice.
00:46 So what LeBron says means a lot, and he hasn't said anything yet, and I think people are
00:52 waiting for that.
00:53 Now, Melissa, LeBron has said things in the past, and his actions have backed up his thought
00:58 process if it is as reported that he can both play and get his point across.
01:04 What do you sense within the Lakers?
01:05 Because in a team, you have a group of individuals, right?
01:07 So it makes sense that you might have somebody like Dwight Howard, but then you have LeBron,
01:11 Jared Dudley, Kyle Kuzma, who have expressed a desire to return.
01:14 Well, it's interesting because LeBron James, throughout the pandemic, has been a huge advocate
01:20 of getting back on the court and finishing the season.
01:23 Ever since George Floyd was murdered, he has not spoken about basketball.
01:27 He's only spoken about social justice issues, about police brutality.
01:32 He started a group to end black voter suppression, but he has not weighed in on the resumption
01:37 of the season.
01:39 So we still don't know definitively where he stands on that, but presumptively, throughout
01:43 the pandemic, he definitely had been saying that he wants the season to resume.
01:48 Dwight Howard then had the opposing opinion and said, you know what?
01:52 I don't think we should play.
01:53 I don't think we should be entertainment right now.
01:55 I think that detracts and distracts from the movement.
01:58 That being said, I don't think there's necessarily dissension among the Lakers.
02:03 We just haven't heard LeBron's take on it yet.
02:06 And I think, kind of like you alluded to, whatever LeBron says, everybody else is going
02:10 to fall in line.
02:12 You know, Robert, the distraction word has come up.
02:14 I said before, the NFL would be about a month behind.
02:17 So the NBA would have a chance to get its message out there front and center.
02:21 Could LeBron and others use this as a way to put pressure on the league to keep this
02:24 in front of its audience?
02:26 Well, I think it's important that we don't get distracted.
02:29 And the overall message is that basketball is a secondary thing to what's really going
02:34 on in our country right now.
02:36 I think what LeBron and others are saying is that we can do both.
02:39 A lot of times, unfortunately, as black people, we get put in a box and feel like we can only
02:44 do one thing at one time.
02:46 And if we're not doing the one thing that someone wants us to do, that means we're taken
02:50 away from the other thing or we don't care about the other thing.
02:53 So when you see players say, hey, we can do both, I think under normal circumstances,
02:57 that wouldn't be a problem.
02:58 I think the issue in this particular circumstance is the bubble, because it's very difficult
03:03 to do things when you're basically on quarantine and lockdown at Disney World.
03:08 You can't get out.
03:09 You can't speak.
03:10 You can't protest.
03:11 You can't march.
03:12 You can't do any of those things while you're in that bubble for a set period of time.
03:16 And I think that's the main difference between trying to do both at a time like this in our
03:20 country.
03:21 That's a good point, but I could also counter and say it means there's a captive audience
03:25 and an opportunity for them when they're not playing, right, to put together dialogue shows
03:30 and stuff like that for the media that is readily available out in front of them.
03:35 Robert, Melissa, appreciate your time on this topic.
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