James praised Adam Silver for allowing NBA players to take stands and speak out on societal issuesNBAE/GETTY IMAGES
With NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in attendance and "supporting the cause," the Lakers and Hawks yesterday "honored the victims of the Thousand Oaks shooting by wearing black T-shirts with the message 'Enough' on the front" during warmups, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com. The teams followed what the Clippers and Bucks did on Saturday when "players from both teams first wore the T-shirts." Silver said, "I support our players' desire to speak out on issues that are important to them and important to society." Youngmisuk noted the T-shirts also had the "names of all 12 people murdered." Clippers Chief of Staff of Basketball Operations Annemarie Loflin "ordered the 'Enough' T-shirts" after the team took note of the NHL Kings and Wild "wearing 'Enough' decals during a game at the Staples Center on Thursday." The Clippers "invited the Bucks to wear the shirts in honor of the victims." Lakers coach Luke Walton said that shirts worn yesterday "sent a 'powerful' message." He added, "When you have kids and you're concerned about where our world is going sometimes, it's nice to see people trying to stand up and bring awareness to things and not just let it slide into yesterday's news." Meanwhile, LeBron James "praised Silver for allowing NBA players to take stands and speak out on societal issues that are important to them." He said, "For us to have a commissioner like we have to even allow us to do something like this, number one, that's amazing" (ESPN.com, 11/11). Bucks G Malcolm Brogdon said, "We have such a huge platform and such a huge voice I think it’s important for organizations as a whole to show support, show love." Clippers coach Doc Rivers: "That’s important to send messages and get things done. I think that’s the only way we can make change right now" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 11/11).
