As Kyrie Irving strongly condemns the NBA’s return in July, he has received both applause and trash for his actions. While love and hate comes naturally with every decision you take, Kyrie has a lot of colleagues standing by his side. Stars like Dwight Howard publicly mentioned that basketball isn’t needed at this moment while Enes Kanter tossed a bit of inside information about top players planning to boycott the league. 

The main aspect of Kyrie’s plea is that the time is now or never. The fight against racism is growing bigger than ever at the moment. The return of the NBA will only hinder all the collective efforts taken so far. Few of his colleagues feel the same way too. But, there are star athletes who feel that the league’s restart will not prove as a roadblock to the protests. 

Former NBA champion Stephen Jackson has been fighting for equality and wants to close the door on racial discrimination forever. Jackson was a close friend of George Floyd, and refers to him as his “twin.” Ever since Floyd’s homicide, Jackson vowed to serve justice to the guilty and has been on the case by marching in protest. 

While Stephen Jackson completely agreed with Kyrie, he took a dig at the NBA for announcing its return amid the ongoing protests. “Playing basketball ain’t going to do nothing but make them money and take the attention of what we’re fighting for, what we’re marching for, Jackson said. “It’s bigger than all of us, and it’s bigger than the game. It’s sad that we’ve still got to explain that to people, bro.”

Stephen Jackson is in constant touch with Kyrie Irving

The 42-year-old recently got in touch with his podcast partner Matt Barnes. Speaking to Barnes through a video call, Jackson explained why he trusts Kyrie with his actions of going against the NBA. 

He’s passionate about this and by the conversation he had, I just think he understands this moment,” Jackson said, as per Nets Wire. “You know what I’m saying? And he just like me. I don’t have all the answers, you know what I’m saying? And he’s speaking off heart, he’s speaking off passion because … I ain’t said this on no interviews bro. He done called me crying bro because he literally know that I’m putting in every single day.

Though the NBA announced its return by conducting a team vote, a coalition of players are retaliating. They recently released an official statement to ESPN. “We are a group of men and women from different teams and industries that are normally painted as opponents, but have put our egos and differences aside to make sure we stand united and demand honesty during this uncertain time,” an excerpt from the statement read. 

Kyrie Irving is leading the movement and is willing to give up everything he has. But ironically a few weeks back he wanted to be a part of the Nets‘ camp in Orlando. This has led to him receiving major backlash and Kendrick Perkins outrightly slammed Kyrie for creating “unnecessary drama.”