Brooklyn Nets shooting guard and vice president of the National Basketball Players Association Garrett Temple says playing games again and earning a paycheck is one of the best ways NBA players can combat the systemic oppression of black people.
The tragic murder of George Floyd in Minnesota has caused many players in the league to second guess whether it's the right time to resume the 2019-20 season.
The Nets guard, though, believes basketball can help:
“The difference in the economic gap between white America and black America is astronomical,” Garrett Temple told Malika Andrews of ESPN.
“I can't in good conscience tell my brethren to throw away millions of dollars in order to create change that I don't see the direct impact of — if there was a direct impact of laws changing, that would be a different story.
“So, when people bring up not playing—we are a few black men that can make a little bit of money. It is not a lot of money when (you) think about it in the grand scheme of America. But we can start having a little bit of money, create a little bit of generational wealth.”
“But the fact that us not playing will hurt our pockets, I don't think that is the right way to go about it.”
Several NBA players have voiced concern over the bubble site games at Walt Disney World. Players have cited social justice issues, restrictions of the Orlando bubble and being separated from their families.
Garrett Temple and the Nets will be fighting for the 2020 playoffs. The Nets are in seventh place in the East and will battle it out with the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards for the last two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference.
Temple, who was recruited to the Nets last summer by Kyrie Irving, is averaging 10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists on the season. He's also shooting 37.8 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from beyond the arc and 76.7 percent from the free-throw line.
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