Basketball: the return of the NBA divides in full American social crisis

Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving on February 1, 2020 in Washington before a game against the Wizards. Stephen Gosling / Getty Images via AFP

Text by: Nicolas Bamba Follow

As the NBA season is slated to resume in late July, dissenting voices are rising in the North American basketball championship. Among them, that of Kyrie Irving. The leader of the Brooklyn Nets and other players would be against this recovery, considering that the weather is not good in the United States, a country plunged into the turmoil of racism and police violence.

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The Disney World amusement park in Orlando, Florida, is supposed to be the temple of sport this summer in the United States. This is where the end of the MLS season, the football championship, and the NBA, the basketball championship, which were interrupted in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, will take place .

The plan to resume basketball in camera, presented in early June, has been validated. But despite the agreements reached between all parties, the idea is debated.

The death of George Floyd at the center of the debate

On Friday, June 12, The Athletic media and other American press titles such as Yahoo Sports revealed that a conference call brought together more than 80 NBA players. This discussion would have lasted almost two hours. Several stars of the championship would have taken part, among which Chris Paul, the president of the players union NBPA (National Basketball Players Association), as well as Kyrie Irving, one of the vice-presidents of NBPA, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, Donovan Mitchell ...

Kyrie Irving would, still according to the media quoted, have spoken and expressed his point of view: he is opposed to the resumption of the NBA season. The reason: with the social crisis caused by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis (Minnesota) on May 25, the United States has other concerns than basketball. Failure to resume the season would also be a strong message sent against racism and police violence. 

Irving does not want to resume, another wonders about this "crucial moment"

Shams Charania, a reporter for The Athletic , reported the words of the Brooklyn Nets point guard: "  I'm not going to Orlando. I'm not for systemic racism and all that crap. Something is wrong.  Kyrie Irving would also have said that to advance the debates that divide the country, he was ready to "  give up everything (he) has  ", like a Colin Kaepernick . "  Like it or not, we are targeted as black men every day we wake up,  " he said.

đź—Ł @KyrieIrving

🆕 from @ShamsCharania: https://t.co/ZztlHT8CV6

  The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) June 13, 2020

Everyone's opinions would have been listened to carefully. Within the NBA, every opinion - for the recovery, against the recovery, shared - has its supporters. Adrian Wojnarowski, another American journalist working for ESPN , writes that another player "  highly respected in the NBA  " reportedly said during the conference: "  Once we start playing basketball again, the information will pass from the subject of systemic racism to who did what in last night’s game. This is a crucial time for us to play (...) and to have an impact on what is happening in our communities.  "

Sport, inseparable from social problems

LeBron James would not have taken part in the conference call. And for good reason: the player of the Los Angeles Lakers, committed for a long time in the fight against discrimination, militates for the recovery of the NBA. He believes that there are other ways to combat racism than to refuse to play at the end of the season. Without forgetting the sporting stakes on the one hand (the Lakers are in the race for the title) and the multiple financial stakes on the other hand. In these difficult times, these are far from negligible.

NBA basketball player LeBron James. Nelson Chenault-USA Today Sports / File Photo

According to The Athletic , NBA players intend to think together before making a joint decision on whether to resume the season. Whichever they choose, it should be followed by all. The objective is to give the image of a united NBA during this troubled period. More than ever, sport and its icons play an important role in the crisis facing American society.

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  • Sports
  • Basketball
  • United States
  • Racism

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