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It stems from the current political fallout from the George Floyd crisis. Kyrie Irving is playing a major role.

Well, thinking out loud:

1. The NBA plans to resume play in about 50 days (July 31). Are protests going to keep going to continue at maximum capacity for the entire summer? I am all for flipping the world's perception and awareness on BLM, but you can't have full-on rioting and protesting all year round while a pandemic is happening and businesses are failing. Great narrative for a screenplay, but in reality, there needs to be some sort of balance between "getting back to normal" and the fighting (against the virus and against racism). You can only push a fragile population so far. Meanwhile the rich keep getting richer by manipulating this stock market and transferring around their assets and currencies. I can honestly say that they don't care that much about inflation, deflation or detonating the job sector, because they have such diversified assets and properties that they could probably pay their way out of any economic meltdown.

2. Most people making menial lower/middle class wages are either still at work, going back to work or trying to find work at this point. Does Kyrie want to forfeit his salary or does he want to still earn it while being excused from playing?

3. The NBA seems to have put a lot of thought into this Orlando plan. It seems pretty fair and reasonable for all parties. Vet stars like Lebron and Paul pushed for the return. No surprise that Kyrie spoke up - it's his right to air his thoughts, but he's clearly got some personal things from way back when.

4. IMO this isn't the "second wave" of Corona, it's still the first lingering on. The second wave would be the one that hits in the fall/winter. I can see why the NBA would want to get the league going now in case there is reason to shutdown next season.

I'd be skeptical of players that are actually taking advice and guidance from Kyrie Irving.

Please cross these players off any potential signings or trade list.

Dez wrote:I'd be skeptical of players that are actually taking advice and guidance from Kyrie Irving.

Please cross these players off any potential signings or trade list.

Seems to me that Kyrie is just supporting BLM, social equality, and general human rights this time. Not flat Earth ****. In this case I’m in support of his stance.

They’ll be able to reach a far greater audience by resuming the season and using that platform than sitting out and speaking on social media.

MrFortune3 wrote:They’ll be able to reach a far greater audience by resuming the season and using that platform than sitting out and speaking on social media.

Yeah. They will be on national TV regularly with a microphone. They will have infinitely more opportunity to impact society from there than sitting at home on twitter. Beyond that, they will have their cell phones in orlando. Its not a mutually exclusive thing.

If they are really concerned about the virus, I can't fault them. The protections being put in place are a little questionable to be honest. The social justice angle doesn't make sense though. If that is their primary concern, they should want to play.

Has to be someone other Kyrie.

erlim wrote:

Dez wrote:I'd be skeptical of players that are actually taking advice and guidance from Kyrie Irving.

Please cross these players off any potential signings or trade list.

Seems to me that Kyrie is just supporting BLM, social equality, and general human rights this time. Not flat Earth ****. In this case I’m in support of his stance.

Read Woj’s article. Kyrie was asking about what type of adult beverages and food sponsorships.

Kyrie is just being Kyrie. Always a disruptor.

coldfish wrote:

MrFortune3 wrote:They’ll be able to reach a far greater audience by resuming the season and using that platform than sitting out and speaking on social media.

Yeah. They will be on national TV regularly with a microphone. They will have infinitely more opportunity to impact society from there than sitting at home on twitter. Beyond that, they will have their cell phones in orlando. Its not a mutually exclusive thing.

If they are really concerned about the virus, I can't fault them. The protections being put in place are a little questionable to be honest. The social justice angle doesn't make sense though. If that is their primary concern, they should want to play.

They can’t be part of protests outside the bubble but they can organize their own march in the bubble and put it on their social platforms. That could be something significant.

MalagaBulls wrote:

Read on Twitter

Im fine with that but most people cant afford this luxury and no matter the issue life moves on.

Personally i think half the league would rather sit out and the only players who "really" want to play are those that are older and on title teams.

What are everyone's thoughts on the length of layoff and how it will affect the average fan's interest when the NBA (or other sports) return? I started out really missing basketball and soccer, but now have filled that time with more productive activities and actually feel like I wouldn't be nearly as interested in them moving forward.

I also watched a couple soccer games played with no one in the stands, and that was SUPER lame. It was like watching a practice and the stakes seemed non-existent. I think that will hurt massively when/if sports return with empty stadiums, as well.

keobulls wrote:I also watched a couple soccer games played with no one in the stands, and that was SUPER lame. It was like watching a practice and the stakes seemed non-existent. I think that will hurt massively when/if sports return with empty stadiums, as well.

I watched a couple of games of the German basketball league championship tournament (yes, I'm very desparate) and I found it weird that there are no fans for about 5 minutes. Now I don't even feel a differrence. Same for soccer.

I have to say this. As a front line healthcare worker, and I’m sure many of you are putting your lives on the line as well, this is an incredibly frightening time. We don’t know the process we are dealing with. We are with sick and infected patients. Our data is circumstantial, underpowered, and often contradictory. Every morning when I come back from a shift I strip down in the hall of my building, outside our door, because I’m afraid one of my children or wife will be infected by my clothes.

We are all doing our part. Not just in healthcare of course. The folks who deliver packages: holy ****, they should be given hazard pay, love, and parades. Daily love parades with dollar bill confetti.

If I could nail a corner three in a protective bubble dome and bring transient joy to a troubled nation I would **** nail the 3. Sack up, Kyrie. The world is not flat, and we all should be giving what we can.

The Kyrie hate right now is really weird to me and I say that as someone who usually disagrees with everything Kyrie says or does. He brings up valid points to discuss with the players around the league. Seems like something the vice president of the players association should do right now or am I missing something?

That Woj piece was really dumb IMO.

Little Nathan wrote:The Kyrie hate right now is really weird to me and I say that as someone who usually disagrees with everything Kyrie says or does. He brings up valid points to discuss with the players around the league. Seems like something the vice president of the players association should do right now or am I missing something?

That Woj piece was really dumb IMO.

If they boycott over safety, that may be a valid point.

If they boycott over black lives matter, then obviously up to them (and they may bare the financial outcomes of doing so), but unlike the NFL, the NBA has been extremely supportive of its players supporting social issues. That feels to me like a misstep and conflating two unrelated things.

If you want to support BLM, then donate then play, speak about it in every media interview, and donate the extra 100M-200M you get in salary to the cause. Boycotting is going to have a lot less impact than that IMO.

Think Austin Rivers has the right of this:
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29307585/nba-players-use-money-season-support-black-lives-matter

dougthonus wrote:

Little Nathan wrote:The Kyrie hate right now is really weird to me and I say that as someone who usually disagrees with everything Kyrie says or does. He brings up valid points to discuss with the players around the league. Seems like something the vice president of the players association should do right now or am I missing something?

That Woj piece was really dumb IMO.

If they boycott over safety, that may be a valid point.

If they boycott over black lives matter, then obviously up to them (and they may bare the financial outcomes of doing so), but unlike the NFL, the NBA has been extremely supportive of its players supporting social issues. That feels to me like a misstep and conflating two unrelated things.

If you want to support BLM, then donate then play, speak about it in every media interview, and donate the extra 100M-200M you get in salary to the cause. Boycotting is going to have a lot less impact than that IMO.

yeah, there's really no cogent point to be made about sitting out. guilt over not participating in marches? tell the participants that you're playing for their entertainment to unwind at night, donate a chunk of your salary to the cause and continue to speak out