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SALT LAKE CITY — NBA players are often recognized as the most fashionable athletes in all of pro sports. From the subtly dressed to the over the top, the league is full of players who find unique ways to express themselves with their threads. February is Black History Month, and the league found a way to promote an important message and allow the players a way to display their reverence for Black History Month.
The National Basketball Players Association and Nike joined forces to show the NBA’s full support of Black History Month by creating a warmup shirt for the players. The shirt has 14 words that the NBPA and several players thought embraced black culture and the impact it has on society: unify, perseverance, activate, history, believe, dream, empower, engage, equality, inspire, justice, lead, listen and love. Players across the league have been in the warmups since the beginning of February.
San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is a very outspoken person when it comes to racial inequality and is glad the league is actively going out to promote Black History Month.
“I think it’s pretty obvious. The league is made up with a lot of black guys. To honor (Black History Month) and understand it is pretty simplistic. How would you ignore that?” said Popovich.
“But more importantly, we live in a racist country that hasn’t figured it out yet, and it’s always important to bring attention to it, even if it angers some people. The point is that you have to keep it in front of everybody’s nose so that they understand it that it still hasn’t been taken care of, and we have a lot of work to do.”
Rookie Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert are excited about the possibilities of the players shining a light on Black History Month with their warmups and the backing given by the league. Both believe that using their NBA platform to reach out to kids is crucial in spreading awareness.
“I think it's a good thing to bring some awareness, especially for the kids,” Gobert said. “I think most adults have a brain and know what’s going on, so I think it’s great for the kids that look up to us as players and watch the NBA, it’s great for them to see that.
“I think the support you have from the league I think is a big thing. It shows that they are genuine about history, and it brings awareness as well to people who ain’t even basketball fans but just know of the NBA,” said Mitchell. “It starts with the T-shirts, then you got guys wearing shoes. You got kids’ favorite players wearing shoes, sleeves, hoodies, whatever it may be. I think it’s just rubbing off and kinda going into different things. It allows kids to say, ‘Oh look, Dame Lillard is wearing this or LeBron is wearing this or KD is wearing this, I should wear it too,’ and it brings more awareness, and I think that’s a big thing for children nowadays.”
For Jae Crowder and Royce O’Neale, the opportunity to wear the warmups and help spread the message of those 14 words on the shirt is something they relish, and they hope that people will always remember the efforts of civil rights leaders who spent their lives fighting for equality for all.
“The history that we went through with Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Rosa Parks, idols like that. For me personally, to be playing this year, first year, I get to express myself with the shoes and then the T-shirts that we wear, and it’s a big part of history. Me being a part of it is a great thing” said O’Neale.
“It’s good to shed light on the ones before us who went through a lot of stuff in this world that we live in. To shed light on what they went through and encourage and applaud those guys and their families is pretty big,” said Crowder. “I’m all for it. I think the NBA does a great job of doing what they do to represent and shed light on those families and the past people. It’s a great thing for our league.”
The warmup shirts are available for purchase on NBAstore.com and other stores around the country. All proceeds from the sales of the warmups will go to MENTOR, a program that the NBA has partnered with since 2014. The program helps bring positive mentors into the lives of youths around the country.
