The Dallas Mavericks announced that in support of the Black Lives Movement, players will have the word “equality” on their jerseys — and owner Mark Cuban is fine with that.
In an interview with Heavy.com, Cuban was asked if the decision, announced on its website Thursday, would be a distraction from the NBA’s restart.
“None,” he flatly declared.
“It will be something that people talk about, but once the games start fans are going to be fans and love watching the games and people who are not fans will want to commentate,” he said.
“Players are used to ignoring commentary on social legacy and social media, so I don’t think they are distracted by it at all.
“Plus, this is such a unique situation, my hope is that the players will become closer and stronger together.”
Some players, including Luka Doncic, Kristaps Porzingis, J.J. Barea and Maxi Kleber, will have the message written in their native languages, Fox News reported.
“I think in the conversations that we had as a team and we’ve had individually, equality is something that we know is mighty important, especially right now with what’s going on,” Mavs forward Dwight Powell told the website.
“For some of the guys to put that in their native language kind of lends to the fact that we’re all part of this conversation regardless of where you come from or your race, creed, religion or whatever it may be.”
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