“Equality” and “Vote” have proven popular among the first social justice messages on the back of NBA player jerseys have been leaked to the public.
The choices of nine NBA players were leaked by Chris Haynes of TNT and Yahoo Sports on Tuesday during Inside the NBA on TNT. Here is the first list:
Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz) - “Equality”
CJ McCollum (Portland Trail Blazers) - “Education Reform”
Jusuf Nurkic (Portland Trail Blazers) - ‘Equality”
Kent Bazemore (Sacramento Kings) - “Education Reform”
Matisse Thybulle (Philadelphia 76ers) - “Vote”
Pat Connaughton (Milwaukee Bucks) - “Equality”
Meyers Leonard (Miami Heat) - “Equality”
Ivica Zubac (Los Angeles Clippers) - “Enough”
Moe Wagner (Wizards) - “Vote”
The NBA is a multi-billion dollar business, so it wanted to allow for social justice messages on jerseys — but not any social justice message. It had to come from a pre-approved list (read: things that felt “safe” and would not offend the core audience). That did not sit well with players, but everyone is headed to Orlando for the restart for financial reasons, so of course this was a business decision. The list of approved messages is:
Black Lives Matter; Say Their Names; Vote; I Can’t Breathe; Justice; Peace; Equality; Freedom; Enough; Power to the People; Justice Now; Say Her Name; Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can); Liberation; See Us; Hear Us; Respect Us; Love Us; Listen; Listen to Us; Stand Up; Ally; Anti-Racist; I Am A Man; Speak Up; How Many More; Group Economics; Education Reform; Mentor.
NBA players will be arriving in Orlando through Thursday as the NBA starts to form its bubble and begin practices.
