By Tony DiRubbo, Media Management, ’24
After an approximately four-month hiatus, on July 30th the NBA tipped off once again from their new bubble campus at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. This was the start of a three-month campaign to finish the season which was suspended halfway through because of the rapid initial spread during the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBA officials believed their bubble strategy would allow the contact sport of basketball to be played without a major spread of COVID-19 and allow the NBA season to resume. While the teams and players were there to compete for the Larry O’Brian trophy, the NBA players wanted to compete for something else – the fight against racial inequality, and make sure their platform was being used for their messages of equality.
The NBA players at first hesitated to arrive at the NBA Bubble, not because of COVID-19 concerns, but instead because the COVID-19 cancellation of sports and other events had put the black lives matter movement in the spotlight for everyone to witness. The NBA players wanted to make sure if people were watching their games, they were watching the players’ messages as well. The NBA players agreed to arrive when the NBA said they would allow the players to have their voices heard. When the viewer would turn on the bubble game, they would see the NBA court, with the words “Black Lives Matter” printed across the sideline. The players were also able to kneel for the National Anthem for the first time in NBA history. When NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was asked about his players kneeling, he said he the supported nonviolent protests and actions taking place at his campus.
The NBA also allowed for players to put social justice messages on the back of their jerseys. Players such as Russell Westbrook opted for more common messages such as “Black Lives Matter.” The Dallas Mavericks, a team comprised of mostly foreign players, decided to have “equality” on the back of their jerseys in each member’s native language. In order to promote the idea of African Americans supporting African American owned businesses, Andre Iguodala put “Group Economics” on the back of his jersey. After these NBA stars would make a great play on the basketball court, the viewers at home saw the message they chose to place on their jersey, keeping the focus of the movement in the mind of the viewers.
At the start of the 2018-2019 season the NBA ruled that shoes could be customized and no longer had to follow team colors. The players had designers customize their shoes to show their messages and support in Orlando. Many players used their footwear to highlight the death of Breonna Taylor. Jamal Murray and Donovan Mitchell imprinted “Say her name” on their shoes. Montrezl Harrell won the NBA’s sixth man of the year award during his stay in the bubble; after he was taking pictures with the award, he placed the award down, took off his shoes and left, then told reporters to keep taking pictures. The result, Harrell’s sneakers which said Breonna Taylor on both sides of the award, became one of the most iconic pictures to come out of the Disney World campus (see above). Social media users have always favored featuring the shoes NBA athletes wore during their games, and now these social media pages were featuring shoes which showed the Athletes message of diversity and equality.
The NBA athletes showed their tremendous dedication for preserving this movement after the shooting of Jacob Blake. The NBA players decided to boycott playoff games, even determined to maybe even leave the bubble until their voices were heard. The athletes stayed as their team owners agreed to push their messages even more, and even turn their NBA arenas back home into polling places for the upcoming presidential election.
NBA fanatics and sports fans turned to the games at the end of summer and at the beginning of fall in order to see a sporting event. The athletes they were watching made sure the viewers from home saw the real reason they NBA superstars came to Orlando, to use their platform in order to keep this push for equality going strong. While viewers watched the remaining games in Orlando, the athletes made sure the viewers were being reminded of the movement going on across the country. On the surface they were just playing basketball; however, the superstars made sure they were playing for so much more.