Monday’s media day in the NBA saw players and coaches talk as much about Donald Trump as they did about the sport that feeds their family. It just goes to show us how big of an issue Trump’s recent comments about NFL players being “sons of b——” for kneeling during the playing of the national anthem and for barring the Golden State Warriors from the White House have become.
For the President of the United States to be among the leading subjects for people gathered together not by politics but by basketball speaks volumes of NBA players’ awareness of the topic. Trump’s behavior didn’t sit well with most of them, including Washington Wizards guard John Wall.
In giving his opinion about the matter, Wall tried to egg two of the NFL quarterbacks Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers to come out and pledge support for Colin Kaepernick’s cause because to him, only when the biggest names in the NFL take a stand will change truly happen.
CBS Sports has the transcription of what Wall said:
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/912350772259631104
“Most of our franchise guys or big-time players in the league are African-Americans. You have Chris Paul, you have Dwyane Wade, you have Carmelo Anthony, you have LeBron James that went and talked at the ESPYs. Until the guys that are the face of the [NFL] — African-American guys come from college and they're great quarterbacks. You get to the NFL, what do they try to do? Change our position. Why? Because franchise guys are quarterbacks.
“So you have guys like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers — love those guys, very talented. Until those guys come out and speak, I don't think the NFL is going to make any adjustments. Remember when we were dealing with our stuff, with [former Clippers owner] Donald Sterling and all that type of things, it was like, ‘Well if LeBron and those guys don't come out, if Kobe don't come out and say nothing, it's never going to be a stand taken.' When those guys came out and started talking, what happened? He's fired. The stand stood. Until those guys in the NFL come up and stand up for Kaepernick and for those guys … until they do that, I don't think anything's going to change.”
It's laudable on the part of Wall that he was also able to bring up the Donald Sterling ruckus a few years back to drive his point home.
The Wizards seems to have a great leader among them.
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