In order to promote social justice and racial equality, the NBA is allowing players to replace the name on the back of their jerseys with a pre-approved list of messages.
Many players have taken part, including 285 of the expected 350 eligible NBA players.
Among those who chose not to list a message includes the Lakers LeBron James, who is keeping his own name to express his displeasure with the list of messages provided by the league.
“I commend anyone that decides to put something on the back of their jersey,” James said, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “It’s just something that didn’t seriously resonate with my mission, with my goal. I would have loved to have a say so on what would have went on the back of my jersey. I had a couple things in mind but I wasn’t part of that process and that’s OK.”
LeBron James has decided to keep his name “James” on the back of his jersey instead of a social justice statement.
LeBron wasn’t satisfied with the social justice messages that were provided to the players, he announced.
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) July 11, 2020
James didn’t elaborate on what he would have liked to have on his jersey, but he’s clearly upset that the league wouldn’t let him show it.
As one of the biggest political and social advocates in professional sports, LeBron James is usually the first to speak up on the current issues plaguing our country.
In the case of these recent protests, he has already made his stance known on social media and it seems he doesn’t take kindly to the NBA censoring what he can or can’t say about the BLM movement.
No doubt, Adam Silver and the league have good intentions, but perhaps they should have included/consulted the players a bit more before deciding how to react to the racial equality movement.
