As a veteran point guard, George Hill knows how to lead his team on the court.
Last Wednesday, he showed an ability to lead off of it, too, as he decided to sit out of their scheduled game against the Orlando Magic to focus the attention on the shooting of Jacob Blake and the ongoing issue of racial injustice.
Giannis Antetokounmpo and the rest of the Milwaukee Bucks followed suit. The team's bold decision not to play re-ignited calls for systemic change and police reform.
“What we did was nothing to get notoriety for,” Hill said to The Athletic about the protest. “It was nothing that we were doing for a publicity stunt. It’s something that we did from our heart. We were tired of different things going on in this world. We wanted action, we wanted things to be held accountable, and we decided to do this as a team.”
At Wednesday night's “all hands” meeting in the bubble, some members of the NBA community voiced their displeasure with the Bucks for acting independently. Antetokounmpo, though, is “proud” of Hill for converting his passion into proactiveness.
“I love him. He’s my brother. 10, 20 years from now, we’re going to be at barbecues together. I sent him a text when everything slowed down because I knew he was down. I knew he wasn’t, his mind wasn’t in the right space,” Antetokounmpo said.
Antetokounmpo said that he expressed his support for Hill during and after the fact, and shared his admiration for Hill's leadership.
“I told him, ‘Don’t you second guess. Don’t you ever forget what you did. This is big, man. Just being a part of it and when I saw you lead the team and doing the right thing and saying you’re not playing because you want things to be right. That’s who I want to be when I grow up. That’s why I followed you. I love you. And I’m happy for you. And I’m happy that we’re on the same team, man.'”
On Saturday, after the Bucks won the delayed Game 5 to close out their first-round series, the players explained that they were simply following a respected teammate's actions in the moment—rather than attempting to ignite widespread protests across sports.
“I just felt disgusted,” Hill said. “I felt like things needed to be changed. I was tired of all of the killing, injustice and things like that.”
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