Shawn Marion: NBA Playing Is Best Showcase For Fight For Social Justice

Former Dallas Mavericks Standout Shawn Marion Makes A Smart Case Against NBA Players Sitting Out Citing Civil-Right Concerns Arguing That Playing Is The Best Showcase For The Fight For Social Justice

DALLAS - Several prominent NBA players, led by Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard, are expressing concern that the NBA's plan to resume play in July will take away from the civil-rights movement.

Former Dallas Mavericks standout Shawn Marion thinks they have it backward.

“In order for you to advocate and go out here and show what you’re fighting for and the causes, you need to be on TV,” Marion said to TMZ Sports. “Social media is a great platform, but TV is a bigger platform because you can post whatever you post on TV, you can post to your social media platform. So, with the season resuming, it adds to that cause.”

The NBA's players are at the fore in the fight against systemic racial injustice, and it is understandable if individuals are working to balance their jobs and their families with the cause. It might not be our place to tell another how to conduct his business, but we've made the point in this space before that actually playing NBA games - in front of what figures to be some of the largest audiences in sports television history - would allow the microphone and the megaphone to be more powerful than ever.

Players have until June 24 to inform their teams whether they plan to participate in the NBA’s return-to-play plan at Walt Disney World in Orlando. The Dallas Mavericks and the other 21 teams involved in the "bubble'' re-boot are scheduled to resume regular-season action on July 30.

Those games are where the audience is. Cooperation with the league (with its social-media platform reaching 1.8 billion people) is where the audience is.

"What is sitting out, boycotting, not playing the season — what is that gonna accomplish really?” Marion said. "I don't agree with that.''