On the second day of September, almost exactly two months before the 2020 presidential election, the Orlando Magic held a press conference in soupy Central Florida to make good on a promise. Several members of the franchise were present, including president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman, CEO Alex Martins, head coach Steve Clifford, and center Mo Bamba. They were joined by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, and Bill Cowles, the Orange County supervisor of elections. Together, in consultation with
More Than a Vote—an organization backed by LeBron James and other athletes and artists dedicated to fighting Black voter suppression—the group
proudly declared that the Amway Center, home to the Magic, would double as a polling place on November 3.
The announcement was the result of
an agreement reached in late August between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association after players paused the postseason to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by Kenosha, Wisconsin, Officer Rusten Sheskey. The plan called for the establishment of a social justice coalition including players, coaches, and governors;
dedicated advertising spots during each playoff game aimed at “promoting greater civic awareness in national and local elections and raising awareness around voter access and opportunity”; and the conversion of arenas into polling places. The Magic were the latest franchise to deliver on that final component, joining a host of other organizations, among them the Kings, Bucks, Hawks, Pistons, and Clippers.
In a conversation with
The Ringer in late August, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts credited the league for working with the players, an effort that began before the season’s restart in the Orlando bubble, including the governors’ pledge of
$300 million over 10 years toward economic empowerment in the Black community. Charlotte Hornets owner Michael Jordan and the Jordan Brand promised
another $100 million over 10 years to organizations “dedicated to ensuring racial equality, social justice and greater access to education.” The Nets
pledged $50 million to create economic mobility in the Black community, and the Celtics promised
an additional $25 million over the next decade to “address racial injustice and social inequities” in and around Boston. The league also approved
a list of messages to be worn on jerseys and painted “Black Lives Matter” on all courts in the bubble. And to begin the conference finals, players donned new warm-up shirts with a single word and a simple message: “Vote.” Roberts emphasized that, “because of the political environment” in the country, voting is an especially important and pressing issue for her membership.
“With all the discussion about voter suppression,” Roberts said, “the November date has been something the players have been mindful of and this was a way to make sure there was some concerted action to make November an actual potential turning point.”
Despite the donations, the messages of solidarity, and the formation of committees, some skepticism about the governors’ motives remained. In a conference call with the media after the joint NBA-NBPA agreement,
Jaylen Brown said he was “not as confident as I would like to be” in the owners’ collective commitment because “promises are made year after year.” Before the restart,
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that sources said
Kyrie Irving didn’t support finishing out the season because “I’m not with the systematic racism and the bullshyt. Something smells a little fishy.” And in the bubble, Bucks guard
George Hill, who was a leading voice in Milwaukee’s decision to sit out its playoff game against the Magic, thus spurring the multiday postseason strike, voiced regret about the decision to play basketball at all. Meanwhile, former players like Greg Anthony and Caron Butler
criticized the idea that owners have done enough simply by pledging $300 million. Andre Iguodala, the first vice president of the NBPA, went further.
“Is it a marketing ploy, or are we just doing it to build relations?” Iguodala asked in remarks to
USA Today. “In the grand scheme of things, that’s $10 million per team, and that’s essentially a tax.”
It’s not hard to understand why so many current and former players are waiting, as Roberts put it, to see NBA governors “walk the walk” rather than just “talk the talk.” ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski
reported that “not every owner in the NBA was enthusiastic about having ‘Black Lives Matter’ on the court” and wondered whether there might “be some splintering off among ownership if this season unravels.” So what happens to the partnership between the players and the governors if one side’s agenda is suddenly in conflict with the other’s?
That very thing is happening right now. Roberts said the players are focused on a particular piece of federal legislation that passed the House but is currently stuck in the Senate:
HR 7120, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020. Among other things, the bill would lower the criminal intent standard required to convict law enforcement of misconduct in federal prosecutions, as well as limit qualified immunity, which helps shield police officers and government officials from civil suits.
Pleas for police reform and justice continued on Wednesday, when it was announced that a Kentucky grand jury
would not directly charge any officers for their role in the killing of Breonna Taylor. Instead, former Louisville police detective Brett Hankison was indicted on three counts of wanton endangerment for shooting into neighboring apartments in the March 13 police raid that killed Taylor in her home. Following that announcement, Roberts issued
a statement calling Taylor’s slaying “the result of a string of callous and careless decisions made with a lack of regard for humanity, ultimately resulting in the death of an innocent and beautiful woman with her entire life ahead of her.” Several players also spoke out on Twitter, including Clippers forward
Montrezl Harrell and Jazz guard
Donovan Mitchell. And Nets guard and NBA veteran
Jamal Crawford posted that “the cops that murdered Breonna Taylor knew this is how it would play out” and “they were never worried about justice being served.”
HR 7120 was sponsored by Representative Karen Bass (D-CA), and it passed the House in late June by a margin of 236-181. Of those nays, all but one came from Republicans. Only three Republicans voted yea. The bill now resides with the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has yet to call a vote.
It’s hardly news that billionaires who own sports teams donate heavily to politicians and their political action committees, and it’s no surprise that the overwhelming amount of that money is earmarked for conservatives and their causes. As Roberts said, “I don’t think any of our players think we’ve got a bunch of progressives running these teams.” Her membership knows the deal. But a recent
BuzzFeed review of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominees found that “they expressed full-throated support for law enforcement and made clear they believe courts should do more to shield officers from lawsuits.” And now, in the wake of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death just 46 days before the election,
the president and
McConnell are vowing to add another conservative justice to the Supreme Court.
Some of the owners who purport to be allies in the fight against systemic racism and police brutality have also contributed massive amounts of money to Trump and the GOP, a president and a party that stand in direct opposition to a specific position the players want to see advanced—law enforcement accountability and reform through HR 7120. That contrast becomes even more glaring when you consider that
franchises across the NBA issued statements in support of the players’ strike after Blake’s shooting—including the Magic. The franchise, owned by Dan DeVos,
said the team and the DeVos family “stand united” with the league and the players in “condemning bigotry, racial injustice and the unwarranted use of violence by police against people of color.”
Sources who know the DeVos family pointed to those statements of solidarity with the Magic’s players, as well as the Magic’s rush to convert the Amway Center into a polling place, as proof that their well-publicized political affiliations aren’t necessarily representative of their personal beliefs. (DeVos’s sister-in-law, Betsy DeVos, is the U.S. secretary of education. Betsy’s brother, Erik Prince, founded the controversial private military force formerly known as Blackwater, now called Academi.) That position becomes harder to defend, however, when considering their one-sided political donations.
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