Dwight Howard has been very outspoken about the upcoming NBA return next month. He’s one of the players who have shown his concern about the league coming back and getting the attention that fighting against racial injustice deserves.
The Los Angeles Lakers big man releases a statement where he showed his support to Kyrie Irving. D-12 addressed the NBA’s plans to resume play next July 31 amid nationwide protests against racism and police brutality. He was interviewed by CNN to talk about his stance on the NBA return, where he said he has the desire to win a championship, but that wouldn’t stop his fight for social reform.
“And I just feel like our people — we need attention,” Howard told CNN’s Don Lemon. “I really feel like our world is hurting right now.
“So much stuff going on in our world, man, and I just feel like we don’t need to get distracted by anything. I would definitely want to play and win a championship, but I don’t want anything to distract us from really what’s going on in our world.
“It’s hurting. It’s hurting me. It’s hurting my family. It’s hurting all our families, and everybody is feeling it right now. I just think that we need to focus on what’s going on.”
He also talked about LeBron James and how much it means for him being part of the Lakers again, but still, he considers everybody needs to focus on what really matters.
“Going to L.A. for me has been the best thing in my life,” he added.
“I’m very appreciative of just being on that team playing with LeBron, playing with AD. Just representing the Lakers again, that has meant the world to me. I just personally have seen so much pain from our people.
“This is about our people right now, and we need attention right now. I don’t want to make this about basketball. I don’t want to be defiant and try to cause any type of controversy. Because I love my team. I love the NBA. I love basketball. I just think our people need our attention right now.”
Howard is just one of many players who have shown their concern about going to play in Orlando next month. The league hasn’t shown any signs of changing their resuming plans, but this is something that may create trouble for them. A considerable number of players aren’t that convinced that the NBA coming back is the best idea right now.
