Los Angeles Lakers superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis have decided not to display a message on the back of their jerseys during the restart of the NBA season. Both players were adamant about their choice not to go with a message, but it appears Davis may have had other ideas all along.
During a Zoom call with the media on Tuesday, Davis talked about the team trying to come with an idea that can be used as a group to speak out about social injustice in the United States. Although that idea has yet to come to fruition, the Lakers forward already has plans to send a message with some specially designed shoes he'll be wearing.
“I think just as a group, we're trying to figure out what we can do as a team,” Davis said. “This is one of the biggest platforms that we can use for ourselves to speak out and everyone to hear us.
“I think individually we're impactful, but together we're more impactful…We're still trying to figure out ways we can kind of let our voices be heard as a unit during the games, whether it be shirts or whatever.
“For me, individually, I have some shoes coming.”
This could become a trend for players with shoe deals like Davis has with Nike as a way of expression. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that LeBron goes the same route as his superstar teammate with some sort of message being displayed on his shoes as they both had deals with Nike.
It seems as though a lot of NBA players are torn about the approved messages by the league that can be put on the back of their jerseys and may go with a different form of expression like Davis will be leveraging.
Davis could be the first of many that could use a unique way to support the cause during their time in the NBA bubble.