Oklahoma City Thunder veteran point guard and NBPA president Chris Paul is making sure that players use up their free time productively while inside the Disney World bubble. Recently, the 10-time All-Star organized a Zoom conference between close to 40 players and Tamika Taylor, the mother of Breonna Taylor.
It was a chance for the players to hear from and converse with Breonna Taylor's own mother, and according to Paul, this was also a way for him to remind the players about the need to carry on with the fight against systemic racism.
“We just want to be soldiers for her and her family and just continue to keep [Breonna Taylor's] name out there,” Paul said, via Malika Andrews and Marc J. Spears of ESPN.
NBPA executive director Michelle Roberts was also on the call, and she revealed how some of the players were initially unaware of the presence of Taylor on the call.
“[The emotion] was palpable,” Roberts said. “She didn't give a speech. She sort of acknowledged she was there and was really pretty quiet and said she obviously loved her daughter and just wanted to make sure everyone understood what happened.
“And the pain in her very limited number of words spoken was clear, and then of course the players' response, letting her know that they would be there for her and were not going to let this thing just die on the vine.”
More details about the call were provided in the ESPN article, with one of them being the concrete action some players intend to take with regard to this matter. Some have reportedly committed to mentioning Taylor's case during pre- and post-game interviews as a way to ensure that the message against social injustice is not lost in all the basketball.
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