Why the NBA Will Be a Leader of Change in America

Regardless of how you feel in the aftermath of the horrific George Floyd murder, one thing is for certain: the NBA has no plans to forget about this in the coming weeks.

Even though some of the riots have been taken too far, the murder of an innocent man is enough to realize that there’s something off about the training of police in this country.

Although America itself is a more progressive country than most, there are many people with hate in their hearts that don’t share the same values as most Americans do. Because of this, terrible things such as police brutality occur.

Many organizations and people have been speaking out against police brutality and have made donations and used their platforms to ensure that this evil will decrease as much as possible, but sports leagues, such as the NBA, are going even further.

Sports have been a key factor in fighting racism for decades. Many look at players like Jackie Robinson and Reggie Jackson as some of the most influential African Americans in history because the Brooklyn Dodgers finally allowed Jackie to get his chance and Reggie followed soon after.

In the NBA, players like Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain were two brilliant athletes who put basketball on the map for years to come.

Although the NBA hasn’t done as much historically as the MLB has, in recent years the NBA has become more influential and has given back to not just their own community, but to communities around the world.

The NBA Cares program has done some absolutely wonderful things for the world and has helped players like Joel Embiid find homes in the NBA.

More recently, the NBA Cares program has had hospital visits, helped with homeless shelters, and honored the Make-a-Wish foundation during the all-star game. They also have their Community Assists Award that encourages NBA players to go out and make a difference themselves like when LeBron James made the school on Ohio or Luc Richard Mbah a Moute held his basketball camp for kids in Africa.

In recent years, the NBA has been at the front of improving the world and they don’t plan to stop now.

NBA players and personnel alike including Greg Popovich, JR Smith, Michael Jordan, Steve Nash and so many more have spoken out against police brutality and there is so much more that the NBA can and will do to help black and all communities in America.

Because of the NBA’s influence and the placement of their teams (big cities), the NBA has the greatest opportunity out of anyone to help with police brutality. 29 teams have already stated how horrible Floyd’s death was and plan to put a stop to it.

The NBA’s voice is unlike any other voice in the world because although it is a lot of people, they somehow are able to remain unified, unlike any other organization. The NBA has already announced that they plan to work with their respective cities to help stop all police brutality wherever it is.

Players like LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are going to make change happen.

The NBA and its players have a lot of money they can spend in order to help. Whether it’s focusing on more intensive training for police in order to make sure they know how horrible it is, donating to help memorials such as Floyd’s or anyone else who is going to be murdered unjustly, or just using their incredible, unified platform to reach out to millions of fans to make sure they know this isn’t okay.

The change will come to America, and the NBA will be a huge voice in all of it.