Thoughts on if the NBA Should Come Back

I didn't write yesterday because, as I told RD when I called him, I needed another night to figure out how I was going to word my piece for the day. I don't want to come off as an asshole at all, but I figure there will be at least one person that disagrees with me today, and well, there is really nothing I can do about that.

Today I want to talk about the player uprising in the NBA right now. Maybe uprising is a bit too strong, but still, there is a decent number of players, and former players for that matter, who do not think right now is the correct time to come back and play. They deem it too much of a distraction from what is currently going on in our country, as far as the protests, Black Live Matter, police brutality, the pandemic, and any other hellscape that we currently live in. And I fully, fully agree with that. I understand. Once players start playing basketball, that will be the biggest story, at least in the sporting news. That is what people will talk about. The people that cover it will immediately shift their focus to the games, the players and the plays that decide the game. The protests will seemingly shift on the back burner. We don't need that. These protests are working. Stuff is starting to happen. I want the police defunded, and the money given to public education personally, and I feel like there is a shift happening in that direction. Some places have already had votes to defund police, and it is working. Also, a good amount of prominent NBA players have taken part in the protests. Players like Giannis, Russ, DeMar DeRozan and Steph and Klay, among many others, have marched, spoken at the marches and been front and center. I LOVE that they are doing that. I love that they are letting their voice be heard. I appreciate that they are taking the time to go out and fight for what is right. But I do fear that once they step on the court, it will all be forgotten. Well, maybe not forgotten, but pushed aside. Guys like Steph and Klay won't get pushed aside because the Warriors weren't invited. But Russ, Giannis, guys on teams that will be going to Orlando, I think the fact that they marched will be put aside when they throw a pinpoint pass, or get a steal or do a thunderous dunk. That sucks.

There is also the current uptick, alarmingly so, of Coronavirus cases in Florida right now. I don't think the NBA players will be as susceptible, due to the "bubble" they will be put in, but still, there has been a scary amount of newly reported cases in Florida. I get NBA players being wary of that. There is also the injury factor that some young guys have brought up. This is going to be a quick restart, and the way these guys are built, someone could suffer a devastating injury. I would hope that the NBA has contingency plans for that, and I assume they do. But still, it is a big time risk. I get all of these fears and problems being brought up by some players.

Now, for what some may see as the heel turn, I'm shocked that Kyrie Irving has this much hold over current NBA players. When rumors started to surface that some players were unhappy with the restart, I racked my brain trying to figure out who. I thought maybe Chris Paul. He has a family that he is super involved with, and three months away is a long, long time. It wasn't him. Then I thought about some guys on the six teams that got invited. I figured guys like Devin Booker, DeAron Fox, Damien Lillard, CJ McCollum, thought it would be pointless because they will, most likely, be there for only eight games, and then have to head home on an airplane. It wasn't those guys either. I even thought, well maybe Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell don't want to play because, and if it wasn't them it would have assuredly been someone else, they essentially shut down the league, and know firsthand how rough this virus can be. But it wasn't them either. The biggest, most dissenting voice was Kyrie Irving, a guy that wasn't invited to play because he is injured and will not return to next season. As soon as I saw it was him, I scoffed and said out loud to no one, "of course it is Kyrie, he is going to ruin this for everyone".

I am not a Kyrie Irving fan. I never have been. Not even in college, or when he hit one of the biggest shots in NBA history. He is a great, great player. I just don't care for him. He is also an insane person. He is a flat Earther. I believe he is anti-vaccine. He has this deep hatred for LeBron James, so much so that he asked to be traded from a perennial Finals team because he didn't want to play with LeBron. He has also destroyed two locker rooms on his way to this new mission of his to shut down this restart. Now, I agree with his issues with the restart. I said it all up top. I want the protests to be front and center on the news, and I do agree that basketball will take away from that. But coming from Kyrie Irving, a kid who grew up with every single advantage, makes millions upon millions of dollars and isn't even going to play, that makes me mad. I'm sorry, but it does. It pisses me off truthfully. I get his message, I cannot say that enough, but he has money to last for the rest of his life. He makes money outside of his NBA contract. He is doing just fine. But what about the 8th or 9th guy on his team. What is that guy going to do if they cancel this season? Also, if they cancel this season, that will lead to, almost certainly, a lockout next year, and billions upon billions of dollars will be lost. Again, I agree with his words, but he is only thinking about himself in this scenario. He is only trying, as some conspiracy theorists have put out there, to keep LeBron from chasing another title.

Yet, there have been other voices coming out in support of Irving, like Dwight Howard, Avery Bradley and Carmelo Anthony. Dwight Howard, I get. His baby's mother died from this disease. He has personal issues with this. If Minnesota were invited, and they asked KAT about it, and if he didn't want to restart, I'd get it. He lost his mother to the virus. Stephen Jackson has been very vocal about cancelling the restart, and he is one of the biggest voices in the protests, I love what he is doing, and how much he is stepping up. He also lost a dear friend due to police brutality. He is also retired. I get why he is so adamant on stopping the restart. But, Kyrie, Avery Bradley and Carmelo, they confuse me. I think I covered why Kyrie's involvement puzzles me. Carmelo, he begged to get back in the league, got signed, and has played well. Why now does he not want a chance to play, at least, eight more games? I don't know. Maybe he is fearful of the virus or getting hurt or something else. But for a guy that was on every TV show until he got signed to suddenly be against a restart, that is puzzling. Avery Bradley is a role player, and I assume he would like to continue to make money. He would be giving up a huge chunk of his salary if they don't restart, and then he would be looking for a new team next season when the lockout inevitably happens. His involvement is the most puzzling of the names of players that have been released. He is due to lose the most money of any named player against a restart.

Ed Davis, who is a ten year vet came out yesterday and brought up some very good points I thought about not restarting. He mentioned that guys like Kyrie, they have made their money and they will be set. The people who have most to lose are vets like him. They rely on the paychecks that come in every two weeks to provide and care for their loved ones. They make a ton of money, but it isn't at the level that a Kyrie Irving makes. So while Davis said he gets where Kyrie is coming from, he also stated that a player like Kyrie doesn't have the same worries as a player like himself does.

I fully agree with Ed Davis. That is the bottom line of all this, and that is the sad thing. The NBA is a business. They are around to make money and get on TV and promote super stars. I asked my wife, who works for a big time stock firm, what would they do if someone said they wanted to leave to go protest and march. She said they would wish them all the luck in the world, sing their praises, support them and let them know they would try and save their job. She also told me that while that person was away, they wouldn't be required to pay them. That is how businesses work, and I think Kyrie doesn't realize, or care about that. If he does get his way, and enough star guys decide to sit out this restart, enough star players that is, this will cause much bigger problems in the future. There will be a lockout next season. The CBA will be torn to shreds and the owners will have all the power. The NBA will use their Force Majeure clause, they can use this in an event that is so catastrophic that is causing unforeseen cancellations, and rip up everything past players worked for today. This is a very weird, very rough, very bad time in the world right now. We are living through some awful shit. And while I applaud the reasoning that some guys are giving for not wanting to restart, I also think they need to know that it will destroy everything they have worked for to be where they are today, to make the money they make today, to have the power to speak to people the way they do today.

The NBA is one of, if not the, most forward thinking professional leagues in the world. If they cancel this restart, it will be catastrophic though. I don't think it will be cancelled though. LeBron has already come out and said the he doesn't think restarting will take away from his ability to speak to people and force change. I agree with him. Also, when he said that, any anger I had towards Kyrie went away, because when LeBron speaks, the NBA listens.

This is one of the more confusing and frustrating things I have dealt with personally as a sports fan. I want the NBA back. I want to watch basketball. But I also want people to continue talking about the protests, I want people to continue to march, I want the police defunded. I want all these things, and I still think we can have it even with NBA players playing basketball. I guess time will tell. Until then, I will be curious to see what the next couple of weeks has in store, because the next couple of weeks is when players are supposed to start reporting to the mini training camps. We will just have to wait and see. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.

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