[Spears] STATEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION (NBPA) AND ITS EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON THE FATAL SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS BY ICE
Tyrese was the only one with the balls to actually say something
Alex Pretti was murdered.
You think that’d be easy to say.
And yet, predictably, one of the top replies under that tweet was some dipshit saying “I used to be a huge NBA fan but this is why I don’t watch anymore” or something.
so many bots on twitter
twitter died a long time ago. There’s small pockets of communities but the site is basically facebook in terms of bots.
Reddit is getting near to but its harder to tell with a pure text interface. Remember when there were so many obvious bots that would just yap about nothing or something vaguely similar to the topic at hand? Well they’ve gotten better and that’s probably why you haven’t seen them recently.
Bot traffic is getting heavier. We’ve had to ban a few hundred on CFB over the last month, and that’s just the ones we catch.
Reddits pretty damn bot heavy now. You can go into any political thread right now and see the same “dont resist they just want an excuse to declare martial law” post over and over for the past two weeks.
Russian bots to be specific
Twitter is so botted it’s reached the point where replies shouldn’t even be looked at unless it’s a real verified human. It’s probably just a fake account upvoted by fake accounts.
“BACK WHEN THEY PLAYED THE GAME THE RIGHT WAY NOW ITS ALL THUGS WHERE IS LARRY BIRD OR JOHN STOCKTON NO TATTOOS NO SHOWBOATING”
You got to respect the children’s game you play for millions of dollars!
“BACK IN MY DAY WE DIDNT HAVE THESE THUGS AND CRIMINALS RUNNING AROUND. BOB COUSEY WOULD NEVER ACT LIKE THIS.”
My dad doesn’t like sports and I was explaining to him how much money athletes make now
He goes “I remember when they played for the privilege of playing” and I had to explain to him that no he doesn’t remember that, because it never happened in his life time.
Probably a bot
Genuinely came to a realization as to how sad it is that I gained an incredibly amount of respect for someone for stating an undeniable fact. Somehow a rare breed among the upper class and government.
Good on him.
It’s so depressing that every single Minnesotan doing ICE watch, or grocery delivery, or daycare patrol, or just showing up for their neighbors has shown more bravery than almost any elected official in Washington
Our representatives should be the best of us and it’s shocking how badly they’re failing to meet the moment
The whole ‘representatives are the best of us’ idea has been a sham for a long time now. How long exactly is up to personal interpretation.
Mine is about a couple decades.
Fuck ICE Nazis
Executed
Publicly executed
Wasn’t a statement but I believe Kyle Anderson at least acknowledged it on Instagram
Just saw Adrian Wojnarowski retweeted a couple things saying Pretti was unarmed and shot 10 times and another saying Pam Bondi is using ICE for threats and extortion.
Putting that 6 million followers to good use at least.
Especially considering people probably didn’t turn off twitter notifications for Woj tweets.
Woj will always have my respect for telling Hawley to fuck off even if he did have to walk it back
That had to be so satisfying for him lmao
Good on Woj, he’s entirely correct about Bondi.
as did Jaylen Clark
So did jaylen clark
Amazing dude man was so happy to see that from him
You got the very best right there. Can’t wait to see him back out their kicking ass.
That or these out of touch rich dudes just don’t give a fuck
Scared of losing sponsorships too I’d guess. I wonder how many are sponsored by massive corps who’s owners also donate to Trump
But how else can they get generational wealth to set up their kids!!?? Oh, $22 million for 1 years worth of work IS generational wealth? Well nobody told me that!
Seriously, I’m also sick of seeing these fucking actors take these commercials. You are rich enough that you absolutely do not need to do meta ray ban commercials. You do not need to take Walmart commercials. You don’t need that money. It’s just unrepentant greed.
Why are we looking to ballplayers in the first place? I get it and fully agree with Halliburton here, but this responsibility weighs so much heavier on oh iono, the politicians we voted for to oppose and stop this bullshit. Like who cares if Halliburton, or Ja Rule, or whoever the fuck speaks out, when democrats are voting to fund ICE? Why isn’t Minnesota filing charges against the multiple murders that have happened? Why are politicians constantly talking but doing nothing in meaningful opposition? Like yes it’d be great if we had a current bill Russell, but also, these guys are 26 year old ballplayers. This ain’t their responsibility, though it’s always welcomed to hear them make waves. I just feel this anger is disproportionately displaced - at the end of the day they only have voice, and while meaningful, I expect more from those who have capacity for action
I agree that we shouldn’t look to them in first place, but it’s still nice when they speak up
Exactly! All these rich and famous people speak out but they wouldn’t be seen standing out with us at rally.
And they definitely wouldn’t put themselves in harms way by going any where near ICE.
They tell us what we want to hear but there’s no action
Yeah you guys have to remember these players with 100m+ net worth have a lot more in common with rich owners than they do with you. You think they actually experience the effects of any of this shit? Nope. They can literally hire private security guards if they want to.
Which is why Lebrons activism always rubbed me the wrong way as I grew older. Only speaking about issues that black Americans experience is weak man. Coming from a black man. It’s weak as hell.
His response to Daryl Morey’s comments about China says all you need to know about his character.
It’s pretty fucked up. Latino people are currently being disproportionately targeted by ICE, but none of the players seem to care since almost none of them are latino. The attitude seems to be “I’ll look the other way on discrimination unless I’m being affected by it”
Coming from a black man
r/AsABlackMan
Also, he’s not your mule. He can focus on whatever issue he feels like, goofball.
And I can think it’s corny not to be inclusive and ignore problems that affect black people outside of the United States, as well as other Americans.
He has leaned in fully to the “activist player” role. Fully leaned in. So yeah, I think it’s corny to only care about issues that affect black people.
I also don’t care what you think lol.
If you say “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere” but only speak out when it’s injustice against you, I’m gonna call you out for being hypocritical
Sadly, the Timberwolves (except their badass chaplain) have disgraced themselves. Trump-buddy owners, a far right bigot center (Gobert), and an uneducated, unconcerned narcissist star. Deafening silence.
Edwards is just a flat out dumbass, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t actually know why the protests are happening.
More disappointing imo to see silence from guys like LeBron, CP3, hell even Dame who claim to be “activists”.
Slo Mo showed support on IG
Damn straight he did. Hali isn’t going to be beholden to some fascist corpo sponsors.
The truth shall set you free.
Hali posted on Twitter that he was murdered, if that counts.
Same dude
Oops I was thinking Maxey
That’s the “Tyrese” they are referring to.
Jaylen Clark also acknowledged it on Instagram.
Bare minimum tbh. Pretty sad he’s the only player in Minnesota who even seems to care.
Jalen Clark posted about it on his Insta story
THATS MY MF GOAT
Not even a Minnesota player, then again they are all jocks.
Their lawyers are begging them to stay silent because they’re afraid of retaliation against arena workers, fans, players, etc is what I’ve heard
Respect to Hali. It’s shocking the scope of outcry within the NBA when George Floyd was murdered, compared to the relative silence now.
I don’t understand this at all. Why are the twolves players all silent?
The rest are fucking pussies.
This is the kind of statement you get when the union members demand you say something and leadership and lawyers demand you not say anything actual
Yep. Pretty classic pussyfooting. I prefer the NBA’s non-committal political posturing to the NFL’s blatant ambivalence or counter-productivity, but come on man
It’s not difficult or controversial to just say what we all fucking saw
Alex Pretti was murdered. Just fucking say it. Jesus Christ.
I feel like the NFL made their stance clear with the charlie Kirk tributes
i remember hearing that Yankee had a moment of silence for charlie kirk, but they also had a positive press release for henry kissenger when he died
[deleted]
Majority of NFL fans are rednecks who support this.
Majority of NBA fans are city types who don’t.
They’re both just doing what’s best for the almighty dollar.
since everyone is making anecdotal claims about the political demographic of fans of the 4 major sports leagues, i thought i’d provide an actual source (2020 survey was most recent i could find)
https://pro.morningconsult.com/articles/sports-fan-base-demographic-data
So, hardly any difference between leagues.
Is the average sports fan not a fan of both? They’re the two most popular sports.
Just anecdotal but I’ve never met a conservative that’s an NBA fan. If anything they’ll prefer college hoops.
I’m sure there’s some but as I stand by my statement in regards to majorities on each side. Large majorities even.
Probably has more to do with where you’re from. Head up to a Kings game and you’d probably find a couple. Tons of basketball fans in Texas, I’d bet a good chunk are conservative.
While you’re right that the NFLs fanbase probably leans to the right, it’s probably reductive to say it’s the majority, I think. Just by nature of being the country’s most popular sport it’s gonna have a very very wide tent of fans.
Anecdotally I know multiple lefties who are die hard football fans, but that’s also partially self-selection of who I’m likely to talk to/be friends with
That’s also cause NFL’s fanbase is way more conservative than the NBA one. Basketball is seen as more of an urban sport while football is more popular in rural areas.
Like a third of the NFL teams are in red areas including 2 of the most storied franchises, Steelers and Packers on top of the recent dynasty Chiefs.
Long live Kaepernick.
As weak as this is, it’s a little better than the statement signed by 50 CEOs in Minnesota that just called for “deescalation” and “cooperation”… low bar out here.
I wish that were surprising. The story of the moment really is elite capitulation but popular resistance
“Elite capitulation but popular resistance” is a fucking bar.
To quote Michael Jordan “ Republicans buy shoes as well”
Most of them do. If you work for ICE you can just steal the shoes (and cars, and phones) of the people you kill.
This gets repeated so much when in reality it was just a random joke
Considering Micheal Jordan always speaks out on social issues thats really relevant /s
Michael Jordan is a large donor to many charitable causes in North Carolina. That’s more meaningful than making an Instagram post.
Not many watch the NBA though. I doubt we have accurate data but I’d love to see political breakdowns of NBA viewership.
Anecdotal evidence suggests NFL/NHL/MLB are more what Republicans watch.
NBA is a much more global sport, don’t get it twisted.
iirc NBA was like a 33% split among dem/rep/independent, which is higher than the other leagues as far as dem viewers. Same for player splits, but that’s harder to track. It’s similar 33% splits, with only the WNBA having a majority dem playerbase. On the flip side, MLB players were near majority or majority rep.
EDIT: https://votehub.com/2026/01/20/the-political-lean-of-pro-sports/
I was off on the 33% splits among players. Much less independents.
And here’s one for the fans
It’s a helluva lot more than most public figures are saying right now.
It is miles more than everyone who is staying silent, but it’s less than almost everyone else who is saying something. That is a statement working hard to express support without pointing any fingers. I’m glad the NBPA said something, but if you can’t call it a murder or point a finger at anyone at all shame on you.
The statement could be more forceful, but the second paragraph is pretty clearly pointing the finger in the right direction.
It’s very slightly more. They’re saying practically nothing here.
Corporations/celebs/athletes/leagues/politicians just don’t seem to understand that things have changed. AI-generated thoughts at prayers statements aren’t cutting it.
I’d wager 60-70 percent of the country would agree with the position that every ICE agent involved in both murders should be charged with murder and placed under arrest. The same for removing ICE from every city, effective immediately.
Hell, you’d get what, 40 percent approval for hanging those responsible in the streets right now? People have had enough, and they want blood. At the very least, what they don’t want is this weak cowardice.
You are basing that on what, what you read on reddit?
Yeah, he doesn’t realize most ppl are not okay with this but would not act on it
We have declared we can no longer stay silent!
Have they tried writing “end racism” on the baseline of every NBA court? I hear that helps.
LOL … if you think union leader aren’t selfish scums, I have news for you. Everyone is out for their interest.
Only way they’d do something is if people stop watching NBA or if the players stopped played. Neither party will do what it takes. Including most of this sub. Everyone will still tune into the game
What is there to really say until there’s an investigation though? I’ve seen the video, it looks damning as hell, but who tf are we? Wtf are the NBPA weighing in on this for?
I’d like to say thats better than not saying anything but it aint much better
It’s worse. If you’re not going to condemn the shooting and instead are going to talk about “division” you are part of the problem. He was murdered, there is no fucking debate.
They definitely are taking a side here. They talk about standing with the people protesting in Minneapolis. They are saying not to let division threaten civil liberties, as in don’t let people get murdered for exercising their rights even if you disagree with them, which is clearly targeted at the side they aren’t saying to stand in solidarity with. They aren’t saying meet in the middle. It’s very soft and not committing to any action, but it definitely isn’t both sidesing the issue.
Seriously, wtf is everyone expecting them to do or say? I think this is above what I actually expected the players association to say or acknowledge
“Alex Pretti was murdered.”
… unno, what would you expect of the wealthy players that can, more than any other workers group in america, maybe unno… strike for a bit? say that Alex was murdered? Something?
They literally said they’re standing in solidarity with the protesters… how is that worse than saying nothing? They’re saying the protesters are right
They are standing in solidarity with the people of Minnesota who are demanding justice in the face of ICE violence and threats to civil liberties.
They also make a gesture toward honouring the diversity of the NBA and America, which comes from immigration.
Could it have been stronger? Absolutely. I wish it was. But they are at least supporting protesters.
Can no longer remain silent and then say nothing
They never said “we are compelled to say something of consequence”
They could have just put out a message discussing the weather under the guise of “not staying silent”.
Exactly. “We can’t stand by”…ok, what else are you actually doing other than posting this statement?
https://media.tenor.com/TRe5NGqnQEkAAAAM/were-sorry-tony-hayward.gif
How about GROUP ECONOMICS
NBA PLAYERS CAN NO LONGER REMAIN SILENT! NOW MORE THAN EVER WE MUST DEFEND OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH! Thoughts and prayers
NBA PLAYERS CAN NO LONGER REMAIN SILENT!
NOW MORE THAN EVER WE MUST DEFEND OUR FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
Thoughts and prayers
Smh
One step removed from changing your avatar pic to a blackout image
r/NBA mods get another blackout going please. America needs you.
“After further review we have decided to send a strongly worded e-mail”
Were they supposed to go arm up and fight ICE themselves? Really curious what the expectations are here.
redditors wanted the nba to go on strike and this is what they got instead LOL
Just wait for the two-minute report!
NBA players can no longer remain silent
So, uh, what are you going to do?
Sounds like they’re telling players they can speak
Yeah. A union is never going to strongly make a statement on something all of their members don’t agree on. Their role is to tell players they can take a stance openly.
It’s not their job to do anything. What have you done?
It’s such a Reddit classic, righteously demanding that someone else do something and sacrifice for their causes.
They’re a labor union that represents some of the most famous people in the world. They have a lot more power and responsibility than Reddit user representativead1965
Okay… I suppose it’s something but it’s honestly weak AF.
What a vapid statement. A bunch of hot air.
This whole statement could’ve been two sentences, and they could’ve at least added some kind of proposed action/idea to make it more meaningful.
Do you know how fucking annoying it is that I have to be proud of Tyrese Haliburton for standing up and saying the truth? I hate the fucking Pacers. I should be allowed to just hate him too but because this country is run by a bunch of Nazi cosplayers with about as much brainpower as a dog turd, here we fucking are.
Alex Pretti was murdered
Renee Good was murdered
Keith Porter Jr was murdered
They should sing the Imagine song while they’re at it.
Uhh at its worst there was literal slavery
Well, no. At its worst, it enslaved quite a lot of them.
I prefer Haliburtons statement
You guys expect way too much from a sports league regarding an issue that is completely unrelated to the league lmao
everyone on reddit think that everyone thinks the same as them offline
tha players arent saying anything not because they’re afraid of Trump or for their money
theyre not saying anything because they just don’t really care that much
Stop expecting celebrities to come and save you. You want something done organize and do it yourself
Don’t care about the pushback against this statement. Whether people think it’s too weak or shouldn’t be said at all, I appreciate that these guys say something. Much more than i can say about any other sports I watch.
weak sauce.
Just a bunch of nothing.
Fucking weak ass statement and a massive L to post this, id rather they say nothing. For fucks sake they don’t even condemn the shooting.
Take a stand for something. I’m fucking tired of this. They are GUNNING US DOWN IN THE STREET and people are CELEBRATING IT.
In defense of the NBA, they’re one of the few corporations to actually say or release anything. Pretty sad. Here in MN, none of the big corporations have said shit.
Whole lotta nothing
I guess I’m the only one who didn’t expect the NBPA to put out a revolutionary statement? The concrete details are still emerging so of course they aren’t going to say something as definitive as what Hali said. Gotta remember that the NBPA represents every single player in the league
LOL, why are people surprised that the rich live in a different reality than common people. Most don’t have the same problems and priorities of those in the middle class or the bottom of society; therefore, they simply can’t relate.
this corporate ass email lol
Thoughts and prayers. ❤️
What does Ja Rule say though?
Have they been asked to comment on the Emirati backed genocide in Sudan?
Meanwhile 99% of the owners are Republican and Trump donors.
Whats the reply mean in regards to the last time the players did something similar, Obama told them to stop?
When NBA players went on strike after police shot Jacob Blake in 2020, Obama called Chris Paul and LeBron and that helped convince the players to end the strike
https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2020/8/29/21406770/barack-obama-nba-players-lebron-james-strike-chris-paul-meeting-call
It’s so frustrating that Obama has generally been pretty quiet on politics since leaving office, but chose to use his influence to break a strike with the potential to genuinely effect change and break through to the general public
It thought they then changed their message to “Go out and vote”. And then Biden did win that election so it seems to have worked, no?
When you don’t have anything to say but have a word count to hit
Just words, same as nearly every other time something like this happens. I don’t realistically expect games to be cancelled or players to refuse playing, but that would mean a lot more than just PR speak on social media.
The same people running the NBA are the same people who are corrupting our leaders, our nation and our core values. The real statement.
The NBA has pretended to care about these things but ultimately they don’t if it makes them money. Partnering with Abu Dhabi, not speaking about the CCP etc. they don’t actually care about human rights lol
thanks for linking to bluesky
condemn the administration and ICE you cowards
The fact Adam silver hasn’t said anything is ridiculous. Just shows how greedy all these associations are because instead of being on the right side of history.. they want to be on the right side of money. NBA, NHL, NFL and MLb are all a joke. Selfish millionaires just showing us all where their loyalties lie
Always just thoughts and prayers like that’s gonna do anything
What a fucking joke.
Didn’t want to say anything that would jeopardise their pay checks tho. Gutless
Not really sure what kind of statement you guys wanted them to make here, if this is such a problem of a statement.
Hmm no mention of the government or ICE
People getting MURDERED execution style and all the NBA or has nothing to say. Pathetic
Ok but this doesn’t actually mean anything, are they going to strike? Words are free, what are they going to do?
What a generic, corporate statement.
STRIKE YOU FUCKING PUSSIES
Are you all happy now? You got you NBA statement, newflash it’ll just get filed away with everything else cause it doesn’t matter to them
You know what POTUS and his guys are doing, right?
“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.“
This. And people are saying nothing.
“NBA Players can no longer stay silent”
Proceeds to say absolutely nothing
The majority of the players do not care one bit about what happened
yall are always upset when a big cooperation doesnt make a statement u think they should make, they will always be in the middle with cookie cutter statements
With how insane ICE has behaved and how they could easily become high-profile targets, I strongly suspect more than a few players are worried about getting into a Thabo Sefalosha situation if they had really taken a stand.
Also, imagine if Stephen Miller was on an especially strong Nazi high and decided he wanted to make a point against the “woke” NBPA? On a return trip from playing the Raptors, SGA (a Canadian - and we know Trump is jealous of Mark Carney after Davos) may not be allowed back into the US for made-up shit.
Just remember: Jung Hoo Lee was recently detained at LAX for missing documents. What if that happened to Dillon Brooks?
These lunatics that murdered Renee Good and Alex Pretti have no guardrails. They’re literally bumbling orcs armed with assault rifles looking to take out their lives’ frustrations on innocents.
Then, of course, there are players whom we know are not exactly on the progressive side on the aisle so they’re obviously going to both sides it to the NBAPA leadership.
This statement is about as strong as it’s going to get. Players are going to have to speak up and take action individually - and bear the consequences.
Why is an association that manages a child’s game that adults play for money, feeling like it must comment publicly and manage their own PR about this murder?
This is why Tampax weighs in on systemic racism, every brand with a shred of influence is bullied to “use their platform.” This is nothing but fluff and clutter adding to a pile of lip service from brands
I think the players of all professional leagues should’ve refused to play today, including in the NFL conference championship games. Hit ‘em where it hurts!
generic pr ass statement
adam silver’s league, fascism money
Could be better but not too bad. Sad Alex died the way he did.
Talk is cheap
This says nothing. What a cop out.
Maybe they don’t really care about some local civil disturbance in Minnesota?
Why are these people obligated to comment on every “current thing” on the news? I assume that NBA players are not terminally online like most of reddit.
NBA and NFL should cancel their seasons.
That’s my association!
Weak ass statement