We have now been without the NBA for a little over three months due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, but there’s hope that the season will resume at the end of July in Orlando at ESPN’s Wide World Of Sports. Everything seemed to point towards 22 teams traveling to Orlando after the league and the NBPA both approved the plan to finish the season. However, that might be a little too optimistic.
The plan for everyone to be in a bubble in Orlando sounds like the best possible scenario given every state has different rules on social distancing and on whether there can be groups of 10 or more in one place. This idea seems like the best idea because there will only be 1,600 people allowed in the bubble at a time, every player and all team staff will be tested daily, and the rules for going in and out the bubble are very strict. The NBA board of governors approved the 22 team format 29-1 and only needed to get over the last hurdle: approval from the NBPA. They got it.
So why does it seem like there’s a chance the season won’t be resuming?
The easy answer is there are a lot of players who don’t want to take attention away from all of the protests and social justice going on and they don’t want to play during a global pandemic but it’s not that simple.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, although players have concerns about COVID-19, the overwhelming number one reason some players don’t want to continue the season is because of the social justice efforts that have been going on for the last few weeks. After the players voted to resume the season, the concerns of taking the attention away from the worldwide protests against police brutality and racial injustices arose. After these concerns, a few players-only phone meetings were held shortly after, led by Nets guard Kyrie Irving who has been very outspoken about possibly not wanting to continue the season.
Although the players did vote for a resumption, there were many players who felt like their voices weren’t being heard and Kyrie wanted a platform so everyone could voice their opinions. Kyrie and others aren’t against playing the season out, but they also want everyone to realize the opportunity they have in front of them since we are in unprecedented times.
During the meeting, a lot of players spoke up for both continuing and just ending the season. From what is known from those meetings, both sides laid out great arguments and they’re pretty much split on what to do. It’s not often that both sides of an argument are the correct sides, but this is one of the times they are.
There is a case to be made for either side and both sides have consequences to them.
Like mentioned before, we are in unprecedented times. For possibly the first time ever, the whole world is taking notice of how black people have been treated in America. Black people have been telling the world about our mistreatment for decades. It took a global pandemic, where a good portion of the world is at home, for people to notice. So when players say they don’t want to take the attention away from all of the social justice efforts, it’s something that shouldn’t be taken lightly.
Basketball is entertainment and the world, for the most part when the NBA returns, will have been without entertainment for over 4 months. We are starving for it. It won’t take much for people to forget about police brutality and racial injustices. Right now it’s easy to pay attention to this issue because nothing is going on. Of course the black people won’t forget because we have to deal with it every single day, but for the people who are just now taking notice, think about how easy it will be for them to turn on ESPN and watch Lebron vs. Kawhi and forget about everything they witnessed after the murder of George Floyd. That little bit of entertainment after months of nothing could be all it takes for a lot of people to just forget.
Outside of the players not wanting to take attention away from the protests and such, it would send a huge message to the league and its owners, who are mostly white male billionaires, that this is something that they need to take seriously and help out with because they are benefiting from the work of black men. That message and not wanting to take the attention away from the world watching comes at a price and that price is high.
If the season ends the players will stop being paid. There is a good portion of the NBA that can’t really afford to miss many paychecks. Also, players use their money to help bring change. If they aren’t bringing in any money, it makes it a lot harder to use their money to try and help. Not to mention the visibility they will have with a lot of people watching will be gone. They will have a worldwide platform to use but it will be hard for them to control the narrative. Some are famous though so they can use their name alone to bring awareness. It doesn’t always take money to help.
The biggest price the players would pay though, is the fact that the owners can rip up the current CBA and negotiate a new one. After losing the season and losing potentially $2 billion, the owners will more than likely not be too kind during negotiations. The owners will have a lot of power and that could cause a lockout, which means no money for anyone. No money for anyone means no funds to help anyone because players will have to manage the money they do have to live their lives.
This makes things a lot more complicated. Kyrie has been criticized for his stance and it’s been unfair. He’s the NBPA VP so he speaks for a group and his stance is to help people. People are starving and thirsting for some kind of entertainment that they forget or just don’t care that lives are being lost and for the first time, the NBA has a great chance to show they really care about black lives and show they aren’t just pandering.
Both sides are right. There is no wrong decision in this. At the end of the day, this is a job for them. This is how they feed and take care of their families and they will have money and visibility to help so if they do decide to go ahead with the plan that’s in place how can someone blame them? The same goes for scrapping the plan and ending the season. How could someone blame them for helping to continue bring attention to an issue that has been going on for way too long?
Both sides are right and no one should criticize anyone when it comes to something like this. Especially if you don’t truly understand both sides of this complicated issue.
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