Big name stars such as LeBron James said they had their own ideas about what they wanted to display. Kawhi Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Anthony Davis also said they'd wear their own names and not what NBA is trying to impose and control.
"It's no disrespect to the list that was handed out to all the players," James, told reporters on a video conference. "I commend anyone who decides to put something on the back of their jersey. It's just something that didn't really seriously resonate with my mission, with my goal. I would've loved to have had a say-so on what would have went on the back of my jersey. I had a couple of things in mind, but I wasn’t part of that process, which is OK. I'm absolutely OK with that."
The catalogue of acceptable opinions was leaked last 3 July, featuring 29 pithy 'social justice' mottos, among them "I Can’t Breathe,""Power to the People,""Speak Up" and, of course, "Black Lives Matter." The fixed list was agreed to by the league itself and its athlete's union, the National Basketball Player's Association.
According to ESPN, players will be permitted to display the message above their jersey numbers for the first four days after the postponed NBA season starts back up. After that point, athletes will have the option of returning to their normal uniform, or to leave the message intact while moving their name below their number.
Though little else is known about the agreement between the NBA and the union, netizens were put off by the sanctioned slogans, suggesting the project was more a creation of a corporate focus group than players' free expression.
As an example, why are the players not allowed to promote pro-freedom expressions or messages that support Hong Kong protesters and slam the Chinese crackdown of pro-Democracy leaders?
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