Nets social media offering players a voice during protests

On Friday, the Nets social media sites invited fans to watch Garrett Temple and Joe Harris to discuss “racism and justice” on the NBA’s Instagram site...

The team then posted a series of comments that came out of the discussion...

It’s part of what appears to be an organization initiative to give players —as well as ownership— an opportunity to speak out on the national crisis spurred by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd at the end of May. Most of the commentary has been posted on the Nets Instagram site.

From Caris LeVert (seen here with D.J. Wilson of the Bucks, his college teammate)...

From Nicolas Claxton...

As well as commentary from other players, like Kevin Durant...

And Temple...

Nothing yet from Kyrie Irving, however. He and other players, most notably Taurean Prince and Wilson Chandler, have used their own social media accounts. But the Nets, along with (no surprise) Mark Cuban’s Mavs, appear to be unique in providing multiple players a voice on protests ... according to a quick review of other teams’ social media offerings.

Every team (now that the Knicks have joined the NBA’s other 29 teams) have made official statements condemning racism and/or violence, posted blackout boxes, etc. but it’s rare that individual players have had the opportunity. In cases where team have given players a voice, it’s almost always limited to stars like Trae Young, Damian Lillard and LeBron James.