VanVleet: It’s terrible timing. But that’s been 2020
Fred VanVleet sees both sides of the NBA's return conundrum.
On one hand, he and NBA players throughout the league can sit out the rest of the season, standing up for social justice and the Black Lives Matter movement while minimizing their chances of contracting COVID-19. On the other hand, there are billions of dollars on the line and playing would allow the players to use that money to support the causes they choose.
"It sucks. It sucks, man. It’s terrible timing," Fred VanVleet reportedly told reporters during Monday's conference call. "But that’s been 2020 for us. We all know the right thing to do is to not play, to take a stand. Morally, yes, that makes sense. But life goes on. We’re all young, Black guys. None of us want to give any money back. I don’t think that we should. I think that money can be used in a number of different ways. This is not going to end this summer regardless, or over the next couple of months. This issue, racial injustice, social injustice, police brutality, all these things are not ending anytime soon. Our fight is long term. That was part of my decision. But if the league, or more of my guys would have come together and said we didn’t want to play, I would have sat out as well. I wouldn’t have even fought it. I think most of us decided to play. It’s something we’ll have to live with."
Anyone hesitant to return this season looking to support social change can follow the path Kareem Abdul-Jabar took in 1968 when he boycotted the Mexico Olympics to protest racial inequality. On the other side, however, there's John Carlos and Tommie Smith, the 200-meter track champions who used their platform atop the Olympic podium to voice their concerns with American society.
"Either way I think they're going to manage to make the statement that they want to make," said Dr. Harry Edwards, the organizer of the 1968 Olympic Human Rights Project, during a June 17 interview.
Ultimately, there's no wrong answer here and it's up to the individual player to individual players like VanVleet to make their own decisions.
"I trust that my heart’s in the right place," VanVleet said. "I’m doing enough to make change.”
