As Doc Rivers’ LA Clippers and Rick Carlisle’s Dallas Mavericks prepare for Game 3 of their first round playoff series, the attention isn’t completely drawn away from the things happening around the league and around the world. The latest news coming out of the NBA was the release of he body cam footage from Toronto Raptors President Masai Ujiri and his encounter an Alameda County sheriff’s deputy after Game 6 of the 2019 NBA Finals.
Ujiri was involved in an altercation with a deputy guarding on the floor at Oracle Arena during the NBA Finals. The deputy claimed that Ujiri hit him with two fists and that he suffered/will continue to suffer physical, mental, emotional, and economic injuries. The video that was released, however, clearly shows the deputy was the aggressor, and for no apparent reason.
Masai Ujiri's legal team has released body camera footage of his encounter with a security worker at Oracle Arena after the Raptors won the NBA championship. pic.twitter.com/56XWMpZy0P
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) August 19, 2020
Ahead of Game 3 between the Clippers and Mavs, head coaches Doc Rivers and Rick Carlisle both reacted to the video, calling it, ‘sad,’ and, ‘appalling.’
“Masai Ujiri and I are very close,” Rivers said. “I had already seen [it], he had shared the video with me. It was just sad to see. It was actually very hurtful to watch that video. A man is at the pinnacle of his career at that moment, you know, walking out on the floor to celebrate with his team. They had just won the NBA championship and he had to be reminded, once again, what his color was. And it’s just so sad. If you’ve seen the whole video, which I don’t think a lot of people have seen yet, the cop was nice, nice, nice and then here comes this one black man with a suit. It’s just really sad. Winning a title is so emotional. I don’t think people who aren’t in can ever understand it, and to have that taken away, it’s just really sad.”
“What a terrible situation,” Carlisle added. “And, you know, all the guy wants to do is get with his team to celebrate a championship and then, it’s a visible, modern-day example of racial injustice and it’s appalling.”
Masai Ujiri released a statement following the release of the footage.
A statement from our president Masai Ujiri. pic.twitter.com/ykekTq53XM
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) August 20, 2020
The Clippers and Mavs are set to tip off on Friday night at 6PM PST on TNT.
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