Barton discusses NBA’s action on racial tensions
By Evan Siegel
Denver Nuggets guard Will Barton talked about his impression of the league’s potential action on racial issues in and out of the league.
The restart of the season has already hit several difficult snags. Multiple high profile players, including Nikola Jokic, have registered positive tests for the coronavirus. The league was already going to have a difficult time producing any sense of normalcy during the season, and is going to continue to struggle as the racial tensions in the United States continue to rise.
Will Barton will be one of the key players on both ends of the floor for the Nuggets when play resumes, just as he has been since joining the team in 2015. Barton discussed his concern over the league’s potential inaction on issues that he and other teammates are focused on. In an interview with the Denver Post, Barton said, “I don’t see us going down there and wearing George Floyd T-shirts before the games and then after a game, being interviewed, saying we need to change.”
Barton said he agreed with the 80+ players who gathered on a conference call that pushed back against the NBA’s resumption of play. The call, organized by Kyrie Irving, centered around the notion that the league jumping back into play would be a distraction from the issue of police brutality against minorities.
Barton said, “If the things that are true that came out about what he said about trying to organize the players and question what are we doing down there, how things are going to be done, and if we should actually go, I agree with him.”
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He added, “At the end of the day, with so much stuff going on in the world right now with a pandemic, racism, I feel like you have to question those things and challenge those things. I don’t think he did nothing wrong.” Barton has not yet specifically indicated whether or not he will play in Orlando, but maintains that a major change is needed and that the issues being raised by the players could “fly under the radar”.
The NBA is scheduled to resume play on July 30th.