Raptors guard Fred VanVleet is already in Florida with the rest of his Toronto teammates, and he knows the time to take a stand and counter the NBA plan to restart the season has passed, but his opinion on the matter has not changed.
“It sucks,” VanVleet said on Monday in a videoconference of his choice to return to the court during the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter campaign. “It’s terrible timing, but that’s been 2020 for us. We all know the right thing to do is to not play, to take a stand. Morally, yes, that makes sense, but life goes on. We’re all young, black guys. None of us want to give any money back. I don’t think that we should. I think that money can be used in a number of different ways.”
“This is not going to end this summer regardless, or over the next couple of months,” he said. “This issue, racial injustice, social injustice, police brutality, all these things are not ending anytime soon. Our fight was long term. That was part of my decision, but if the league, or more of my guys, would have come together and said we didn’t want to play, I would have sat out as well.”
Photo: Dan Hamilton-USA Today
“I wouldn’t have even fought it. I think most of us decided to play. It’s something we’ll have to live with,” he added. “I trust that my heart’s in the right place and I’m doing enough to make change.”
Raptors president Masai Ujiri is the only black team president in the NBA. He said it is not lost on him, his players or peers what hangs in the balance in the coming weeks.
“First of all, this is a really interesting time,” Ujiri said. “Black lives do matter and we’re really going to use this platform, I think. It’s continuous right? This is something that I don’t think is going to stop. Because, so there’s so much — so, so much to be addressed.”
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