Should the NBA return? The answer, amid the coronavirus pandemic alone, which rages on in the United States, is an imprecise one. But recently, as spurred on by Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard, there has been another concern brought up by some players: Is it right to play as the nation protests systemic racism and police brutality in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death?
Both Irving and Howard were criticized by the Utah Jazz’s Ed Davis, who said that using the revenue from NBA games and being on the forefront of the public’s mind, in an environment in which players from 22 teams could converse regularly, is actually a potentially massive opportunity to promote causes that players are passionate about.
On ESPN, Stephen A. Smith echoed a similar sentiment in calling out both Irving and Howard:
“I completely disagree with them and I think they sound foolish,” Smith said. “You’re Kyrie Irving and you’re Dwight Howard. If you are talking about not going back to work because of the coronavirus, nothing to talk about. Everybody has the right to feel the way that they feel in terms of their own individual health, the health of their loved ones who they’re going to be near. That is a separate subject. But to sit up there and imply that at this particular moment in time that sports should not exist and we shouldn’t be going back to work because of racial inequality, prejudice, police brutality, etc. These are things that have been going on for decades, if not more, some would say centuries, obviously, if we’re talking about racial oppression.
“Anybody in our society that thinks this thing is going to be completely eradicated is fooling themselves. You’re always going to have to deal with these things. So that is not an excuse to not show up to work to do your job. You can fight the fight while still showing up to work and that’s why I think Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard are a bit ill-informed here.”
The league is scheduled to resume July 31, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida, but has a number of logistical and philosophical questions to resolve before then.