Eagles

The legalized U.S. sports gambling industry claimed another Benjamin early Saturday morning, unless it didn&rsquo;t. DraftKings Sportsbook has posted odds on the Most Valuable Player race for the 2021-22 season, and this columnist placed three bets at a rest stop on the Garden State Parkway because gambling is not yet up and running in New York.
The largest was $50 on James Harden of the Brooklyn Nets at odds of +2500, and here is why: When the bearded one was on the court and healthy for the Nets prior to his offseason excursion to France, he made Brooklyn the smoothest running team in the entire NBA. Why can&rsquo;t he do that again next season once he has recovered from a Grade 2 hamstring strain that hampered him in the seven-game series against the Milwaukee Bucks?
DraftKings has a total of 66 players listed on their table of MVP odds, ranging from Luka Doncic with the shortest odds at +400 to eight players at 5000-1: D&rsquo;Angelo Russell, Victor Oladipo, Jerami Grant, Draymond Green, Dejounte Murray, Tyrese Haliburton, Aaron Gordon and Norman Powell.
You could make a case for all or none of them, and let&rsquo;s face it: None would be on the board if the sportsbook believed they wouldn&rsquo;t draw action.
But the object here is to have a crystal ball that is not too hazy, which is why Harden drew half of that aforementioned Benjamin on a sultry, sunny Saturday.
Another $25 went on Karl-Anthony Towns of the Minnesota Timberwolves at +9000, just in case Towns&rsquo; time in the Twin Cities is up. He could be the best center in the NBA (apologies to Nikola Jokic) if he landed on a team that has a chance of winning its conference. With the Wolves changing ownership groups, the new folks (that would include you, A-Rod) are going to have to decide whether to blow this thing up again. Minnesota has not won a playoff series since 2003-04 and has missed the postseason in 16 of the past 17 seasons.
Perhaps the New York Knicks could offer a package of prospects and first-round picks to bring Towns back closer to his hometown of Metuchen, N.J.
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Of course, the Knicks already have a pretty credible MVP candidate in Julius Randle despite his flameout in the first-round playoff loss to the Atlanta Hawks. And since Randle was on the board at the enticing price of +6500, he got the other $25 wager.
Randle has only one more season remaining on his contract for $19.8 million, and the Knicks would be insane not to guarantee it. That means Randle will be going into the final season of his deal, a time when players historically play their very best in order to earn another contract. Randle won the NBA&rsquo;s Most Improved Player award, being named on 99 of 100 ballots, and the next step in his progression would be to become a legit MVP candidate.
To do that, he would likely have to improve upon the 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists he averaged last season, but with a better supporting cast around him, it is a distinct possibility. We have not heard much from the Knicks since they went down in five games against the Hawks, but one safe wager is to bet your bottom dollar that Leon Rose and Co. are trying to turn over every stone so that the Knicks can make the leap from fourth-place surprise to legit Eastern-Conference contender.
With a decent array of free agents out there (<a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/2021-nba-free-agency-ranking-kawhi-leonard-chris-paul-and-the-top-10-offseason-players-on-market" target="_blank" rel="noopener">as detailed by colleague Tommy Beer</a>), and with the Knicks having more cap space than any team this side of San Antonio, the options available to their brain trust will not be all that limited. If they find a willing trade partner and/or entice one of the top-tier free agents to join Randle, R.J. Barrett and whoever else remains, the Knicks competing with the Nets and Bucks for the best record in the East is not out of the realm of possibility.
Again, the name of the game here is to try to peer into the future and make an educated guess as to which players might be capable of winning MVP purely on talent alone, and then try to figure out whether their current team has the means to be atop their conference (or close to it) when the 2021-22 regular season comes to an end.
Harden is the most likely, and 25-1 ain&rsquo;t bad. Randle is the second-most likely, because the Knicks are back on the rise. Towns is the wild card because he certainly isn&rsquo;t winning this thing in Minnesota.
It&rsquo;ll be 11 months until we know the results, so this dinero stays locked up for a long time. But one Benjamin is not a ton of money, and the key to having fun in the legalized U.S. sports gambling industry is to keep the wagers affordable. Otherwise, you may end up funding an enormous resort in Las Vegas. &nbsp;

DraftKings Sportsbook has posted odds on the Most Valuable Player race for the 2021-22 season. Chris Sheridan shares his three bets.

Early 2021-22 NBA MVP bets: Harden, Randle, Towns are intriguing

MONTVALE, N.J. &ndash; The rest stop on the Garden State Parkway less than a mile over the border from New York was quiet early Saturday morning, with only three cars in the park-and-ride lot -- one of which held a sportswriter with a gambling app. That writer has a habit of believing in Michael Porter Jr.
So a $50 wager was placed with PointsBet.com on Porter Jr. to win the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player award. And as a Nuggets hedge, another $50 went down on Nikola Jokic.
But the Porter bet is more potentially lucrative, as PointsBet listed Porter Jr. at 100-1 Saturday morning, while most other books had him at lower odds. DraftKings Sportsbook, which usually takes wagers in this market, has had the Finals MVP odds dark for a couple of days.
The Jokic wager carries odds of 16-1, and it&rsquo;ll be more than a month before we know whether these were timely bets or merely another Benjamin falling into the legalized U.S. sports gambling sinkhole. &nbsp;The books had a spectacular week with the Los Angeles Lakers getting knocked out of the playoffs by the Phoenix Suns, and let&rsquo;s just say that there are a lot of folks in Las Vegas and in the online sports betting business that are going to be huge Milwaukee Bucks fans in the second round. After the Lakers, the books&rsquo; biggest exposure is on the Brooklyn Nets, and then the Philadelphia 76ers.
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BetMGM.com, which has partnered with the NBA on a new initiative called NBABet, has taken 21.7% of its handle on James Harden to win Finals MVP, 18.3% on Kevin Durant and 11.7% on Luka Doncic, who still must get out of the first round after getting Kawhi&rsquo;d last night. &nbsp; Only 1.7% of BetMGM&rsquo;s handle is on Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Bucks, just 0.9% is on Kyrie Irving, and 0.7% on Ben Simmons. &nbsp; PointsBet, which is especially strong in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Colorado and Michigan, lists Durant as the +375 Finals MVP favorite, with Donovan Mitchell at +400, followed by Antetokounmpo at +600. In the Andre Iguodala realm, PointsBet has John Collins, Clint Capela and Kristaps Porzingis at 150-1.
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FanDuel has Porter Jr. at 250-1, along with Porzingis, Collins, Capela, Rajon Rondo, Tim Hardaway Jr., Joe Ingles and Bogdan Bogdanovic. Simmons is on their board at 120-1, and Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday of the Bucks are at 100-1.&nbsp; &nbsp; What this shows is that the books are not of one mind on who is going to come out of the East or West, although the Brooklyn prices are so low that the Nets are clearly seen as the favorites, despite the fact that they still have not shown that they have any idea of how to defend Antetokounmpo, Middleton and Brook Lopez at the same time when using their preferred small lineups of Irving, Harden, Durant, Joe Harris and whoever is playing the role of Jeff Green, as he recovers from a foot injury. &nbsp; Brooklyn is the championship favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook with odds of +160, and the Utah Jazz are second at +300. The Dallas Mavericks have the longest odds, 50-1. &nbsp; It has been a mixed year for sports betting stocks. DraftKings went from $44.86 on Jan. 1 to nearly $51 per share Friday. Penn National Gaming has risen from $80.89 on Jan. 1 to $136.47 on March 14 before coming back to earth and closing at $80.54 Friday. FanDuel&rsquo;s parent company, Flutter Entertainment, dropped nearly 10 percent Friday to close at $94.99, down from $119.40 on March 15. &nbsp; The stock market may or may not have accounted for the profits the sportsbooks will reap from all of the losing Lakers bets they processed, and if the Nets fall to the Bucks in Game 1, it is fair to assume that the sports gaming stocks will rise again. Sports gambling will be legal later this year in Florida, New York, Nebraska and Connecticut, and gaming commissions in Arizona and Maryland are making progress on legislation; Wyoming&rsquo;s sports gambling rules will be finalized in the week ahead.
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 &nbsp; Wyoming borders Colorado, which will have a Most Valuable Player within its borders after Jokic&rsquo;s MVP victory becomes official. Denver opens against the Suns in Phoenix on Monday night, with Game 2 on Wednesday. The Nuggets went 2-1 against the Suns this season, with two of the games going to overtime, one to double OT. The teams have not played since Jan. 23.
Jokic should present a formidable matchup challenge for Deandre Ayton, and Porter Jr. will be relied upon to be a secondary scorer whose point totals will need to offset those of Devin Booker.&nbsp;
The Suns are slight favorites in the series, but Denver has more playoff experience, and Porter is coming off a Game 6 against Portland in which he knocked down six three-pointers in the first quarter. The third-place finisher in Most Improved Player award voting, Porter shot 10-for-13 and 10-for-19 in the final two games of the Nuggets' first-round victory against Portland.
It is unlikely that Porter will be more valuable than Jokic if the Nuggets make the Finals, but that unlikelihood is mitigated by the potential payoff ($5050) if he breaks out the same way teammate Jamal Murray did in the postseason a year ago. Jokic is a decent hedge, especially at 16-1.&nbsp;
If neither wins, we will have another chapter for the book &ldquo;Why the House Always Wins.&rdquo; We shall see.
As a Basketball News reader you can get access to BetQL for 30% when you use the code BBN30, <a href="https://betql.co/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">check out BetQL</a> and win the rest of your bets for the playoffs.

Chris Sheridan shares the early NBA Finals MVP odds as the league heads into the postseason's second round, and why Michael Porter Jr. could be a sneaky wager.

Sheridan: Why I'm taking a gamble on Michael Porter Jr. for NBA Finals MVP

In an exclusive interview with BasketballNews.com&rsquo;s &ldquo;The Rematch,&rdquo; former NBA player and current co-host of &ldquo;All The Smoke&rdquo; Stephen Jackson opened up about his relationship with George Floyd and how his murder set him on a path of activism, prompting him to use his voice and platform like never before.
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Jackson spoke candidly about the pain he felt when he learned that his friend had been murdered. This wasn&rsquo;t simply another tragic murder at the hands of the police or another hashtag; this was his friend. This was very personal for him.
He reminisced about his first encounter with Floyd; they looked so similar that they started calling each other &ldquo;Twin.&rdquo; He discussed their friendship as well as the growth he saw in Floyd, who admittingly made his share of mistakes over the years in his quest to provide for his family while living in an impoverished situation with limited opportunities. But, according to Jackson, he had found a new path and was making the necessary changes to improve his life and surroundings. Jackson discussed Floyd&rsquo;s love for his daughter, Gianna, and his commitment to helping others (such as the work he was doing in his church). Jackson painted a much different picture of Floyd than the media initially did after his murder.&nbsp;
He humanized George Floyd.
Just as his friend was turning over a new leaf, his life was snatched away from him by Derek Chauvin on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, MN. Jackson went into great detail about the tears he shed, the anger he felt and the heartache he shared with the Floyd family. He vowed to be there for Gianna, who recently celebrated her first birthday without her father.&nbsp;
Here&rsquo;s a transcript of my conversation with Jackson, who detailed the entire process starting from the moment he learned the news that Floyd had passed:&nbsp;
Etan Thomas: &ldquo;Talk to me about what happened when you got the call and found out about George&rsquo;s death. Where were you? Who broke it to you? What was your immediate reaction?&rdquo;
Stephen Jackson: &ldquo;I was right here on the same couch I'm sitting on. It was probably 10:30 in the morning. I'm on the couch, sleeping with my daughter. My daughter's room is upstairs, but she doesn't like to sleep in her room because my room is downstairs. So she sleeps on the couch and watches TV, so she can be close to me. And something made me get up and come get on the couch with her. So I was laying on the couch with her that morning. And me and my girlfriend's mom talk about police brutality and all the nonsense that&rsquo;s done to Black people all the time, and she sends me videos all the time.
&ldquo;So my phone is ringing, vibrating. I look at it and I see the video from her, but I don't even correlate that this is my brother. So I'm not even thinking about George when she sent me the video. I look at it, not even putting two and two together. I'm just like, &lsquo;Oh man, they done killed another brother.&rsquo; As I put the phone down, my phone vibrates again. And I pick up the phone and I look at it and it&rsquo;s a message from my friend, Mike Dean, and it says, &lsquo;You see what they did to your twin in Minnesota?&rsquo;&nbsp;
"I went back to the video from my girlfriend's mother. And I see the video and I look in closely and see that's him on the ground and I lose it, E. I get to throwing stuff. I jumped up and scared my daughter. I'm screaming. I was hurt, bro. I was actually hurt because I saw myself in him and this is somebody who I consider my twin getting murdered by the police for the world to see. I never thought that I would see that with my own eyes -- somebody that I loved, that I consider me. I've never dealt with nothing like that, E. And so to see that, it knocked the wind out of me, honestly. It knocked the wind out of me and I just cried. I couldn&rsquo;t even get myself together for a while.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;Everybody saw the video and when I watched, I was looking at the evil in him -- in the officer, Derek Chauvin -- as he was kneeling on his neck and putting his hand in his pocket (and they say this was so he could apply even more pressure to his neck). The facial expression that he had, it was just nothing. I looked at it with my kids and I'm breaking down too. We talk about Black Lives Matter and that showed us that, to that officer and all those officers around him, our lives didn't matter at all. You don't even treat an animal like that. I mean, if everybody saw a dog being murdered like that&hellip;&rdquo;
Jackson: &ldquo;They would go crazy.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;They would go absolutely crazy. And that's the part that was so tough to me. You think that we&rsquo;ve made some kind of progress and then you see something like that, and it just knocks us all the way back. I'm feeling like, &lsquo;Wow, so what do we do now?&rsquo; And you went into work mode after that. That happened, you had your moment of grieving and feeling upset, and then you went into work mode right after that. Talk about that switch; what went into that?&rdquo;
Jackson: &ldquo;You never know what God has for you in your life. I was really upset. In the past, I had been upset that I didn&rsquo;t make All-Star games in my career. [I had been upset] for being judged for the (Malice at the Palace) brawl for having my teammates&rsquo; back and it messed up my career and all of the accolades I should&rsquo;ve gotten. I know I should have been an All-Star at least two or three times. But God works in mysterious ways. What I'm doing now, I want to be known for that. I don't even want to be known for basketball at all. I want to be known for what I'm doing now. Like I said, you never know what God has for you. Me going to Minnesota... I wanted to go down there so they wouldn't demean my brother's name. Like you&rsquo;ve said: the first thing they do when they murder one of us and try to make it look valid, they demean our character.&rdquo;
Thomas: &ldquo;Yeah, that&rsquo;s what they always do. With Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Terence Crutcher, Alton Sterling, Ahmaud Arbery and so on. They literally do it every time.&rdquo;&nbsp;
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Jackson: &ldquo;Yup, and I wanted to go down there to let the world know who he really was. And nine times out of 10, when this happens, none of these people that get killed by the police have a celebrity to speak up for them. That's one thing that messed up Minnesota and the world: nobody expected Stephen Jackson to be considered George Floyd&rsquo;s twin. And nobody expected Stephen Jackson to put everything he had on the line for him, and fight for justice for him. While I was in Minnesota, not only did they know he had a celebrity speaking up for him, but at the time I spoke up for him, my podcast was one of the bigger podcasts in the world. I was all over ESPN and doing all of these shows. Nobody expected him to have somebody [with that kind of platform] to speak up for him.
&ldquo;When I went down there, seeing how the city of Minnesota got behind me and supported me, [that] let me know that this has been going on for a long time. I walked to the corner [and saw a woman holding a sign that said], &lsquo;His name was Hardel Sherrelle.&rsquo; His mom was standing on the corner, crying and holding signs, trying to get justice for her son just by herself. She didn&rsquo;t have no Stephen Jackson to speak up for her. So we stopped. I had all kinds of cameras following me at the time. I stopped, I put the cameras and the mics in front of her, and she tells her whole story. I ended up being the voice for her [too]. So I inherited being the voice for so many people who have been brutalized by police or by racism and never got justice. And the fact that it was a celebrity basketball player that everybody knew, that a lot of people respected and loved, all 18 countries and 50 states got behind me. And it became one of the biggest protests all at one time ever in the history of protests.&nbsp;
&ldquo;So the fact that that happened, I just dropped on my knees because I never knew God would make my life that important. It's way more important than basketball because I'm changing lives. And it sparked me to want to go to all 50 states and to let people know -- in the areas we come from -- that we care about them, that we hear them, that we have money to give and resources to help you out to try to get to a better life. And it's just God. Like I said, you never know what God has for you. It was meant for me to be in this position. It was meant for me to have a domino effect of helping people after going out there and standing up for my brother and to fight for change, and I would rather be known for what I'm doing now than anything else.&rdquo;
Later in the interview, Jackson lashed out at the media for the way they negatively portrayed his friend. He criticized attorneys like Benjamin Crump, whom he called out by name, because he feels they should fight harder for justice and less for settlements. (Although he did add that he still has respect for Crump and prays for him and hopes that the fight for justice is successful.) He also expressed his frustration with a justice system that doesn&rsquo;t hold police officers accountable for murdering innocent civilians.&nbsp;
Also, Jackson thanked celebrities such as Kyrie Irving (who purchased a house for the Floyd family), Lil Baby (who paid for Gianna's recent birthday party), Barbra Streisand (who bought Disney stocks for the Floyd family) and activist Tamika Mallory (who showed a lot of support).&nbsp;
Jackson praised the people of Minnesota for the tremendous support he received when he went there to protest for his friend. He really felt like the city embraced him and his cause, which he didn&rsquo;t anticipate. He also thanked all of the white allies, in particular, across the country who have aided him and supported him on his quest for justice.&nbsp;
Jackson is a new man. A man who has found his voice after much of the world joined him to protest the murder of George Floyd. In fact, many people were getting involved and protesting police brutality and racism for the first time (including many white people), which was likely due to Jackson&rsquo;s efforts. 
As the country awaits to hear the verdict for Derek Chauvin and the other officers involved, we can only hope and pray that justice will prevail.

Stephen Jackson opens up about his relationship with George Floyd and how his murder prompted him to speak out like never before.

Stephen Jackson on fight for George Floyd: 'It's way more important than basketball'

The Milwaukee Bucks recently decided to boycott Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic in response to the shooting of Jacob Blake. Blake, 29, was shot seven times by police in Kenosha, WI. 
This comes exactly four years after Colin Kaepernick took a knee during the national anthem for the first time prior to a 49ers-Packers preseason game, showing just how much has changed in that span.
The NBA postponed all of Wednesday&rsquo;s games and players met to discuss whether they should finish the postseason in the bubble. Ultimately, the players decided to resume the playoffs, with the NBA and NBPA <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-nbpa-social-justice-coalition-executive-director-michele-roberts-voting-elections" target="_blank" rel="noopener">coming together</a> to create a social-reform coalition, turn many NBA arenas into voting locations and run ads during the playoff games that promote greater civic engagement.
Blake&rsquo;s attorney, Benjamin Crump, <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CESTQkYD4Xc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted a picture</a> of Blake with his three sons (who were in the car when he was shot) on his Instagram page and wrote: &ldquo;This is Jacob Blake. He is 29 years old and a devoted father. Kenosha, WI police shot him several times in the back tonight after he was breaking up a fight between two women. His THREE SONS were in the car he was getting into when they shot him!! His sons will be traumatized forever. As a father myself, I am horrified and disgusted. We cannot let this continue! We cannot let officers violate their duty to PROTECT us. Our children deserve better!!&ldquo;
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James discussed this incident following a Game 4 win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
&ldquo;So you&rsquo;re telling me that there was no way to subdue that gentleman or detain him before the firing of guns? You&rsquo;re lying to every African-American, every Black person in the community,&rdquo; James <a href="https://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=29735258" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. "If you watch the video, there were multiple moments where - if they wanted to - they could&rsquo;ve tackled him, they could&rsquo;ve grabbed him, they could&rsquo;ve done that. So why did it have to get to a point where we see the guns firing? His family is there. The kids are there. It&rsquo;s in broad daylight. 
"And if that video is not being taken by that person across the street, do we know if we even see that video? &hellip; We are scared as Black people in America. Black men, Black women, Black kids, we are terrified.&rdquo;
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul also addressed this during his post-game interview following a Game 4 victory over the Houston Rockets.
&ldquo;I just want to send my prayers out to Jacob Blake and his family,&rdquo; Paul <a href="https://twitter.com/complexsports/status/1298030906024906753?s=21" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. &ldquo;We said we were going to continue to speak on the social injustice and the things that continue to happen to our people. It&rsquo;s not right.&rdquo;&nbsp;
Miraculously, Jacob somehow survived and is in stable condition, according to a statement from the family. However, make no mistake, the police (who are now on paid administrative leave) did not intend for him to leave there alive. Their aim was to kill him - right in front of his 3-year-old, 5-year-old and 8-year-old sons.
&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s more devastated than his three sons,&rdquo; Crump <a href="https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/crime/2020/08/24/jacob-blake-stable-condition-after-shooting-kenosha-police-shot-7-times/3431519001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel</a>. &ldquo;You can only imagine the psychological problems these babies are going to have for the rest of their lives."
"As we fight for justice and understanding, our family has and will face many trials during this time," the Blake family wrote on their <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/justiceforjacobblake" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe page</a>. "Jacob Blake is a loving father of six that deserves proper medical attention and legal representation."
Why is the family and their attorney repeatedly stating that Jacob is a loving father of six and a good person? Because each and every time a Black man or Black woman is killed by the police, they are demonized and their name is dragged through the mud. This happened with George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Terence Crutcher, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Akai Gurley, Stephon Clark, Andrew Kearse and countless others. The media floods the airways with justifications of why the person was shot by the police and how it was somehow their fault.
A Black man shouldn&rsquo;t have to be perfect or a college graduate or a husband or a father in order to explain why he didn&rsquo;t deserve to be shot seven times in the back by police, but I digress.&nbsp;
This is exactly why NBA players have been kneeling during the national anthem. It&rsquo;s why they have been wearing messages on the backs of their jerseys. It&rsquo;s why they have collectively let their voices be heard during this entire NBA bubble restart, despite the barrage of criticism and vitriol they have received. It&rsquo;s why there were questions about whether the players should go to the bubble at all.
Donald Trump <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2020/08/11/donald-trump-nba-players-very-dumb-kneeling-during-anthem/3343737001/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> NBA players &ldquo;very nasty and very dumb&rdquo; for taking a knee during the national anthem.
Conservative political pundit Charlie Kirk <a href="https://twitter.com/charliekirk11/status/1288975274709671936" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a>: &ldquo;Hilarious to see Black NBA players who make millions a year take a knee to try and tell us black people can&rsquo;t succeed in America. Kick them out of the league. Done watching the NBA.&rdquo;
Former NFL player, head coach and current commentator Mike Ditka <a href="https://www.tmz.com/2020/07/26/mike-ditka-x-league-national-anthem-protests-womens-football/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told TMZ Sports</a>: "If you can't respect our national anthem, get the hell out of the country. That's the way I feel. Of course, I'm old fashioned. So, I'm only going to say what I feel.&rdquo;
How is it possible that so many people still don&rsquo;t understand that this has nothing to do with the flag or veterans? Or are they simply dedicated to purposely misrepresenting and redirecting the issue?&nbsp;
Michael Vick spent more time in prison for killing dogs than just about every police officer who has killed an unarmed Black person over the past three decades, so it should be crystal clear what the issue is.
Joakim Noah recently <a href="https://www.fli.tv/joakim-noah-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appeared on my show, The Rematch</a>, and explained why he chose to put &ldquo;Justice&rdquo; on the back of his NBA jersey while in the bubble.
&ldquo;Because everyone deserves justice. Everybody does,&rdquo; Noah said. &ldquo;And the truth is that right now, and for a long time, there are a lot of people who don&rsquo;t [receive justice]. I wanted to use that because everyone deserves human rights. All of my heroes have been fighting for justice. Some have died for justice... And I hope that a lot of these people who have died - when you think of [George] Floyd and Breonna Taylor - I really hope that they can get their justice.&rdquo;
Joakim almost got emotional while saying these words. This isn&rsquo;t just a trendy thing to support, as some have suggested; this means something to Noah and these players. It&rsquo;s important for NBA players to take stances like this and verbalize to the media why this matters to them. We&rsquo;ve heard Noah, LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard, Jerami Grant, Tobias Harris, Sterling Brown, C.J. McCollum, Donovan Mitchell, Marcus Smart, Kyle Kuzma and so many others discuss this. We&rsquo;ve heard from coaches such as Doc Rivers and Alvin Gentry. It should be crystal clear what the issue is at this point.&nbsp;
What the NBA and WNBA have done this season can&rsquo;t be overlooked: This is one of the largest collective athlete-activist movements since the 1960s. This movement has pushed entire industries to reckon with their racist history and institute programs and initiatives that weren&rsquo;t previously there.&nbsp;
For example: The NBA <a href="https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/29602899/nba-establishes-fund-support-empowerment-black-community" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently announced</a> that &ldquo;all 30 NBA teams will contribute a combined $300 million over the next decade to fund the NBA Foundation, a new charitable initiative dedicated to greater economic empowerment in the Black community.&rdquo;
NBA Coaches For Racial Justice was <a href="https://www.ajc.com/sports/atlanta-hawks/how-lloyd-pierce-is-leading-nba-coaches-in-the-fight-for-racial-justice/OSCCWK4DEZHODL6W2C3P3MIDWE/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">established by</a> Lloyd Pierce and now every coach in the NBA is working with grassroots organizations in their respective cities.
Former head coach and current analyst Stan Van Gundy explained the kneeling for those who still seem to be confused on the meaning and importance of the players&rsquo; stance.&nbsp;
&ldquo;If you love something, you want it to be better,&rdquo; Van Gundy said <a href="https://www.fli.tv/stan-van-gundy-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on my show, The Rematch</a>. &ldquo;As a parent, you&rsquo;re going to love your kid no matter what. But you&rsquo;re not going to just let them do whatever they want to do and not say anything or do anything - because if you really love your kids, you want them to be the best that they can be. And when they&rsquo;re not doing that, you want to try to correct their course. That&rsquo;s what the players are doing. They&rsquo;re not saying, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t want to live here,&rsquo; or, &lsquo;I hate America.&rsquo; They&rsquo;re saying, &lsquo;I want it to be the best that it can be.&rsquo;&rdquo;
NBA players took a respectful stand - not against police, but against police brutality. And they did it together, as an entire league. Coaches, referees, staff, white players, foreign players - everyone taking a stand together while utilizing the media to bring further attention to specific cases of police brutality and calling for police accountability (such as justice for Breonna Taylor and George Floyd).&nbsp;
With the horrifying shooting of Jacob Blake and the fact that none of the police officers had body cams - although Kenosha technically requires them for all of their officers - some players feel that kneeling isn&rsquo;t enough anymore. And as was the case with George Floyd, if it weren&rsquo;t for a civilian&lsquo;s recording, the &ldquo;facts&rdquo; from the police report almost certainly wouldn&rsquo;t have resulted in any officer being held accountable.&nbsp;
It is more than evident that we still have a long way to go.&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/justiceforjacobblake?utm_source=customer&amp;utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet&amp;utm_medium=copy_link_all" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This is the official GoFundMe created for Jacob Blake and his family. They need our support.</a>

The Jacob Blake shooting is exactly why NBA players have been kneeling and fighting social injustice, writes Etan Thomas.