There’s an interesting scene with Snoop Dogg where you’re talking about the N.B.A. players and the post-George Floyd protests. You essentially suggested that the players fell in line when it came to protesting police shootings, and that they should have stopped playing until there was real reform. Is that an accurate framing of how you feel?
Well, if I’m being frank, yeah. I think what I tried to insinuate, if not say, was that I just think that if players really, really felt passionate about the George Floyd situation, and they wanted to do more, I think the way that — or at least the way I thought that — you should actually effect change is changing. If that meant you all not playing, then you shouldn’t. I thought that should’ve been an option.
I thought the league actually took advantage of the players and knowing that the majority of the players needed to play and needed the opportunity to play, and that wasn’t going to be an option.
It seems like during the pandemic, the world linked on sports for entertainment, or to keep things at a calm. With that type of leverage, you got to know how to actually use that leverage. I don’t think the players really had a firm leadership in being able to devise a plan and put it together.
Were you particularly political in your playing career? For example, would you have been willing to stop playing until there was legislation addressing a reform that you were passionate about?
I would have taken the opportunity to go on Capitol Hill and use my platform to be loud and to say whatever it was I felt. You’ve got to remember, this is your livelihood. And as 400-plus players, you’re not just speaking for yourself. You’re trying to speak for a body of players that think differently, on all accounts. This is how you eat. This is how you feed yourself, and everybody is in different categories as far as economics, when it comes to the league.