Adam Silver and Damian Lillard appeared on ESPN's Return to Sports special to address the challenges of potentially resuming the NBA season amid nationwide unrest.
"We are trying to find a way to our own normalcy in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of essentially a recession or worse with 40 million unemployed, and now with enormous social unrest in the country. And so as we work through these issues, I can understand how some players may feel, that it's not for them ... it may be for family reasons, it may be for health reasons they have, or it may be because they feel -- as some players have said very recently -- that their time is best spent elsewhere," said Silver.
A coalition lead by Kyrie Irving and Avery Bradley is further examining the NBA's plans to restart in Orlando, with an eye towards social justice reform.
Dwight Howard also has yet to decide whether to play this season.
Lillard, who admitted that he didn't "feel 100 percent comfortable" returning to play, said that he understood Irving and Howard's positions.
"I think our league is made up of so many African American players. And a lot of our hearts are with our people; our minds are with our people. And we feel like we should be a part of that fight. And that's where the struggle is; I think that's where you're hearing a lot of guys kinda coming out, saying maybe we should be focused on that instead of worrying about going back in and jumping into the season," said Lillard.
Silver admitted that there may not be "a uniform view" among players concerning the resumption of the season.
Silver added that the league will continue to give its players a platform to fight for racial equality.
