We’ve seen some pretty fun things happen in the NBA over the last few years.
LeBron James became the league’s all-time leading scorer, the Warriors and Steph Curry won a 4th NBA title, Giannis Antetkounmpo gave us one of the best playoff performances ever and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t even talked about the incredible rookies we’ve seen, the rise of Luka Doncic or the battles between Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid.
The NBA has been great. We’re in a true golden era of basketball with tons of talent in the league. I’d honestly hate to be missing out on any of this if I’m a fan of the sport at all.
Apparently, though, none of that moves Phil Jackson. The Hall of Fame head coach said he hasn’t watched a lick of NBA basketball since the league hit the Bubble back in 2020.
Why? Because, apparently, the social justice slogans on the court left a bad taste in his mouth. He said as much on Rick Rubin’s Tetragrammaton podcast.
Phil Jackson says he hasn’t watched the NBA since the Bubble:
“They even had slogans on the floor and the baseline. It was trying… to bring a certain audience to the game, and they didn't know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.” pic.twitter.com/njYUCnL45p
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 22, 2023
“The game had slogans on the floor and the baseline. It was trying…to bring a certain audience to the game, and they didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.”
You might be curious as to what the “slogans” Jackson is talking about were. It was just Black Lives Matter — the slogans the NBA decided to put on the court following the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
And that’s what is apparently stopping Jackson from watching NBA basketball these days. Black Lives Matter slogans that were on the court for a few months 3 years ago. Cool, I guess? Your loss, champ.
The further we get away from Jackson’s coaching career, the more we begin to learn about him as an actual person. One of his own former players has called him racist. And, well, let’s just say his point here isn’t helping him beat those allegations.
I’m not sure if Jackson is racist, but I am sure that this is dumb. There are lots of valid critiques one could make about the NBA over the last few years, but turning away from the league because it didn’t acquiesce to calls for escapism is just silly.
We were living in one of the most tender moments in American history. There was a slight uprising occurring in the midst of a global pandemic. An expectation of silence at that moment from a league where around 70% of the labor force is Black is just completely ridiculous and obtuse. Period.
But hey, man. Do your thing, Phil. We’ll just keep enjoying good basketball over here.
