NBA players at the forefront of a political movement

The biggest names in the NBA are at the forefront of a political movement; but how will NBA commissioner Adam Silver respond?

There is a saying about the difference between politics and sports. In sports, people talk less while doing more. While in politics, people talk more and do less.

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For decades, many athletes have been criticized by the predecessors for their lack of political action.

There was Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Olympics as well as Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown. They were not only the greatest athletes of their generation in their particular sport but they also used their celebrity to influence change of the racial inequality in the United States.

For decades to follow the worlds most famous athletes stayed quiet. 

The likes of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, OJ Simpson and Magic Johnson were all excellent corporate pitchmen but none of them would dare make any sort of political statement that would jeopardize any sponsorship agreement they had in place.

That is all changing in the year 2017 and the biggest names in the NBA are at the forefront of the political movement.

Steph Curry said that he would not be attending the White House as is customary for the winner of all the major sports leagues in North American which includes the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB as well as the NCAA football and basketball champs.

President Donald Trump then publicly rescinded his offer to the Golden State Warriors to attend the White House which caused a backlash from the biggest names in the NBA.

LeBron James publicly called Trump a “bum” on his Twitter account and the rest of the NBA has begun to pile on the President.

Other big name NBA players have followed the lead of Curry and James including Chris Paul and Draymond Green.

Although no member of the Toronto Raptors has made any sort of direct comments via their social media sites, several players have been retweeting the comments of their NBA counterparts in support of their decision to criticize Trump.

Raptors All-Star Kyle Lowry retweeted Paul’s comment on his Twitter account.

Several other Raptors including Fred VanVleet and newly acquired Lorenzo Brown have also retweeted anti-Trump comments on their Twitter accounts from Curry and Jay-Z.

There was some form of protest held in every NFL game that took place today.

Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shahid Khan locked arms with his players during the playing of the American national anthem this morning in London, England while the Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in their locker room during the playing of the anthem at Soldier Field in Chicago.

Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets was suspended for one game during the 1996 NBA season for refusing to stand during the playing of the anthem.

Based on the current political climate and how vocal the biggest names in the NBA have been this offseason its fair to expect that there will be some form of protest staged during NBA games this season.

Abdul-Rauf was fined $32,000 and suspended for one game but it will be interesting to see how NBA commissioner Adam Silver will deal with any form of protest.

What is going to happened if Silver takes a stand against the likes of James, Curry or Paul if they lead any protests?

It’s been said that America is a melting pot of culture.

However, the pot is reaching it’s boiling point and the biggest names in the NBA are turning up the heat.

Next: Five keys to the Raptors success in the 2017-18 season.