LOS ANGELES - LeBron James won't have a social justice
message on the back of his jersey for the NBA's restart, the Lakers
All-Star forward said during a video call with reporters Saturday
afternoon.
"I will continue to do (work) off the floor and when I'm talking to
you guys everything that I do has a purpose, it has a meaning,"
James said. "So, I don't need to have something on the back of my
jersey for people to understand my mission or know what I'm about and
what I'm here to do.
"But I commend everybody and I respect everybody that decided to put
something on the back of their jersey. I think that's great and I
also respect anyone that didn't."
James spoke before the Lakers' first practice since March, when the
NBA season was suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic. The
Lakers arrived in Orlando, Florida, on Thursday night and immediately
began a 36-hour quarantine. They cleared that quarantine around
midday Eastern time Saturday and were able to leave their hotel rooms
and prepare for practice.
Dwight Howard, who considered skipping the restart, met the team in
Orlando. A video circulated from Rajon Rondo's Instagram account that
showed a hotel room inside the bubble more than a day before the
Lakers arrived, but coach Frank Vogel said Rondo flew with the rest
of the team on Thursday night.
They practiced at 5 p.m. local time and kept secret which players and
staff members were available to train in order to avoid speculation
about the results of league-mandated Covid-19 testing.
"Because of privacy concerns, not going to disclose the number of
guys and whether or not we have our full staff at this time," Vogel
said. "We're going to continue to honor the testing protocols and
just not disclose that."
In planning the restart to the NBA season, the league and players'
union worked together to decide to allow players to replace the names
on the back of their jerseys with a preapproved slogan. They approved
29: 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, Si Se Puede, 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, and Mentor.
"It's just something that didn't really seriously resonate with my
mission, with my goal," James said. "I would have loved to have the
say so on what would have went on the back of my jersey. I had a
couple things in mind but I wasn't part of that process, which is OK.
I'm absolutely OK with that."
James isn't the only Lakers player to express lukewarm sentiments
about the league providing a preapproved list in conjunction with the
players' union (National Basketball Players Association), which did
not consult most of its membership. Kyle Kuzma said he wishes he
could have chosen a more personal message.
Some Lakers have decided to use the preapproved slogans. JaVale McGee
plans to put "Respect Us" on the back of his jersey.
"I definitely feel like respect is a key factor in social
injustices," McGee said. "I feel like we definitely need to get
equality, we definitely need to get the same respect everybody else
does. It's just a blessing to have this platform and the NBA doing
everything they're doing to help also."
James agrees that the platform the NBA provides will be useful in
promoting messages against racism and for social justice. He has
spoken out about the way the justice system treats Black people in
years past and has done so throughout the NBA's hiatus. James helped
start a voting rights organization this summer called More Than A
Vote, which is designed to support Black voters and fight voter
suppression in their communities.
"We will continue to push the envelope and let people know that we
are human as well," James said. "No matter our skin color, no matter
how we look, no matter how we sound. We don't want to just be used
for our God-given abilities as far as our talent on the floor, our
talents in the music industry, our talents in the industry as far as
clothing and things of that nature. But we also want to be recognized
for our talent with our brains because that's what we are, just like
everybody else. And we should be treated that way."