During his playing career, former NBA player and now TV analyst, Kenny Smith, was never known from shying away from the spotlight. He was always ready to take the big shot and was regarded as one of the fiercest shooters of his time. Now, he is still firing shots – to the NBA players, that is.
The former Houston Rockets‘ guard recently hosted a Facebook live chat challenging black NBA players to give 10 percent of their salary towards causes that empower the black community.
During his “State of the Union,” speech, Smith had this to say:
“Six percent of the country make up 74 percent of the NBA. Seventy-four percent has an availability of $90 million per team. There comes a social, economic responsibility with that and I am sorry it has to be you.”
Smith's challenge comes in after the series of police-involved shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota this past couple of weeks. He says these events portray the societal divide that exists between poor African-Americans and the rest of the world.
He added:
“We are in a societal undercurrent trying to figure out how to get pulled up. If you have social and economic power and education power, you become important.”
The co-host of Inside the NBA said that there will be committees that will be designed to guide players to organizations directly helping their communities' much needed concerns. He also says he will work with the NBA and major sponsors to garner support.
Players like Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony all took to Twitter to give their thoughts on the recent killings.
We are all hurting tonight. More violence is not the answer. #StoptheViolence
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 8, 2016
I keep waking up to nightmares..With each passing day it's getting worse and worse. These are sad days in our country. I pray for peace!
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) July 8, 2016
First off let me start off by saying "All Praise Due To The Most High." https://t.co/h870pUh4Ob pic.twitter.com/shG3YiJeUz
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) July 8, 2016
With these superstars voicing out their thoughts, they may lead a movement for a lot of players to accept Smith's challenge.
Smith issued his challenge, saying:
“The ball is in your hand, the 24 second clock is running down, its now time to be poised to understand what you can do and how you can make a difference.”
[button width=”full” button size=”bigger” color=”custom” align=”center” textcolor=”#ffffff” texthcolor=”#ffffff” bgcolor=”#8b0000″ link=”https://clutchpoints.com/matt-barnes-speaks-recent-police-violence-dallas-incident/”]NEXT: Matt Barnes speaks out on recent police violence, Dallas incident[/button]
Follow Us
Subscribe