Contrary to earlier reports, the request of Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler to wear a blank jersey is still under review by the NBA. The same goes for the over 30 players who asked to do the same.
Per Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, the NBA is still evaluating if they will grant Butler's wish to wear a blank nameplate in the NBA season restart. For the meantime, various reports indicate that the Heat swingman will wear his name “Butler” first.
Sources to @YahooSports: Contrary to reports Jimmy Butler’s jersey request is still under review and has not been denied. Butler wants to leave his nameplate on his jersey blank. Over 30 players have requested a blank nameplate on their jerseys
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) July 19, 2020
To recall, Jimmy Butler shared his decision not to put anything on his jersey last week. In a conference call with Heat reporters, he explained there's a deeper meaning with the message he wants to send by not putting anything on his jersey.
“Just because I love and respect all the messages that the league did choose, but for me, I felt like with no message, with no name, it's going back to, like, who I was. And if I wasn't who I was today, I'm no different than anybody else of color and want that to be my message in the sense that just because I'm an NBA player, everybody has the same right, no matter what, and that's how I feel about my people of color,” the Heat star said, per Nick Friedell of ESPN.
Whether the league approves Butler's nameless jersey is a matter of wait and see. For what it's worth, the NBA has been allowing its players to voice out their opinions on social matters — even before the BLM movement.
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