The NBA plans to paint “Black Lives Matter” on the pitch inside both sides in all three arenas that it will use at the Walt Disney World Resort when it returns to the 2019-20 season late next month, according to reported by ESPN.
The WNBA is also discussing the “Black Lives Matter” painting on the field when it begins its shortened 2020 season at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, sources said.
Sources also said that some WNBA players have suggested, in talks with the league superiors, that players wear shooting shirts that say “Say Her Name” in an attempt to draw attention to women who are victims of police brutality – among including Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by police at her home in Louisville, Kentucky in March.
The players insisted that the fight for racial equality and social justice are a central part of the NBA’s return to play and the new season of the WNBA. Several NBA players have considered skipping Orlando’s recovery of the NBA to focus on social justice issues. Several WNBA players, including Atlanta Dream’s Renee Montgomery and Washington Mystics’ Natasha Cloud, are sitting next season’s WNBA to focus on social justice.
On Friday, during a conference call with reporters, leaders of the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association said that the league and union were discussing different methods of using the NBA platform in Orlando to draw attention to racial equality, the social justice and police brutality. Over the weekend, Chris Paul, president of the players union, told ESPN that the league and union were working together to allow players to wear uniforms with personalized social justice related messages on the back of the shirts instead of the players’ surname. .
The killing of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 – with an officer, Derek Chauvin, who has since been charged with second-degree murder after kneeling on Floyd’s neck for several minutes while Floyd reiterated that he couldn’t breathe – has sparked protests nationwide. Followed the killings of Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man chased by three white men and killed by one of them during a run in Georgia in late February. All three men were charged with murder last week.
Numerous high profile players in both leagues participated in protests across the country.
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