Doc Rivers, Steve Ballmer,
welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
-Thanks. -Yeah.
I wish I was having you guys on to talk about,
you know, how exciting the playoffs have been.
I wish I was having you on to talk about how amazing
Lou Williams has been as a sixth man,
probably one of my favorite players
right now in the playoffs.
I wish I was having you on the show
to just talk about the joy of sports, but unfortunately,
we're here because I wanted to talk to you
about the NBA strike and the reason for the NBA strike.
Now, I'm sure everybody knows about this,
but for those who don't know, the NBA players went on strike,
and the games were postponed after what happened in Kenosha.
And it was really inspiring and also sad to see,
you know, the players standing up and saying,
"We can't do this anymore."
And Doc, we played a few of your comments,
so I'll start with you.
What do you think has made this moment in time so different?
Why do you think these protests have really changed
not just sports, but our everyday lives?
Because these protests-- the games stopped.
You know, the games have always gone on
through all these different things that have happened.
George Floyd's murders-- the game...
uh, murder-- the game kept going, right?
In this case, the game stopped.
Uh, the players literally need to take a breath.
And like I said earlier, it's not lost on me
that George Floyd was never afforded
to take that breath, but our players did.
In doing that, they were able to refocus
and come up with tangible things that they wanted to do.
You know, there's so many people that protest,
but, this time, we came up with tangible items
that the NBA, the owners and the players wanted to do,
and, so, that's what makes this so different.
Do you find, as someone
who works so closely with the players,
that a lot of the players
might struggle even more to deal with what's happening?
Because now it's almost an outside world.
They're in a bubble. They're seeing this happening.
They're away from their families,
they're away from their communities.
Do you think that also added to them saying,
"Hey, we're not in the mood to go dunk a basketball right now.
We have to focus on what's happening in America."?
Yeah, because usually when something like this happens,
you're with your families.
You can comfort your kids.
Uh, you can try to explain to them
what's going on in America or in that city.
They were not able to do that.
In some ways, being in this bubble,
a lot of work, but the players don't feel it.
They don't see it. They don't know exactly what's going on.
So I think, in that way, you're exactly right.
Steve, I know as an owner,
you know, you've been one of the most vocal supporters
of, you know, police reform.
You've been out there with the NBA saying,
"Guys, something needs to be done."
It is strange, you have to admit, though,
that you are the owner of an NBA team,
and people are expecting you and the league to fix something
that should be dealt with by the government.
Is that ever a strange situation?
Do you feel it's an unnecessary burden to have?
I-I think about it a little bit different.
I don't know how to speak to the whole league,
but I do know we have players, people like me,
who are citizens.
And getting out there, using our voices,
supporting-- I mean, that's... that's the American way.
You get out, and you have people proposing bills,
like the Justice in Policing Act,
the George Floyd bill.
Great. There's a lot of good stuff in it.
Let's make sure that the House and the Senate come together.
I'm just a citizen on this one.
I have something of a voice.
Our players even have a louder voice.
Uh, and, you know, that-that happens.
That's not about basketball, that's about democracy.
You-you... you've been instrumental
in pushing the players, though,
and giving them a platform to speak.
What are some of the things you've learned from the players
in these conversations that maybe you weren't fully aware of
before they started?
Well, certainly, I've had an opportunity
to hear from our players.
Doc and I did a great, uh, meeting with the team,
couple of meetings with the team,
about the kinds of things that are on people's minds.
I don't have the lived experience
of growing up Black in the United States.
-Mm-hmm. -The whole fear of police stops
and what those mean and where they go
and the importance of really, uh, being able to have
higher levels of accountability so that is a system that...
and an approach that works fairly for all Americans.
I get that out of our discussion
when we talk with the guys.
What-what really helped shape their lives?
It's these mentorship programs and teachers and...
and... maybe not shocked, but really made vivid to me
by the conversations we've had.
Doc Rivers, some of the fans of the NBA may say,
why can't the guys just play the game
and leave politics out of it?
They may be big fans of yours and the Clippers--
how would you respond to those fans?
Well, first of all, we are playing the games.
You know, we stopped, but we are gonna play,
and we're gonna do our job, and so we're doing that.
But more importantly-- and I think I got this from you--
you know, politics are part of our lives,
uh, daily lives, and so if you don't get involved with it,
it's gonna get involved with you.
Also, some of these aren't politics,
some of these are human rights issues.
You know, I think we think human rights issues are politics,
and it's not-- it's what's right and what's wrong.
And we should all speak up.
And our players have decided, like, it's not our burden
to do everything, right?
But it's our responsibility to get involved,
because we want to.
And-and there's nothing wrong with that,
and I love that our guys are doing it.
And I think they're doing it in a sensational way.
What is the... what is the league doing right now?
Because it was really interesting and nail-biting
to watch it all unfold.
You know, we-we heard that there...
there was possibly gonna be a strike, then there was a strike,
then the question was, was the season gonna be cancelled,
and then we heard that the NBA was taking some concrete steps.
What are some of those steps, Doc,
and how did the league get to these decisions?
It was beautiful, Trevor.
The players got together,
uh, had a long talk over a lot of issues, and...
and they came to the owners,
and the owners are the partners, you know?
And one of the things I want to clear up,
the word "boycott"-- well, we were...
we were not boycotting the NBA.
Uh, or the players were not.
It was more a protest about what was going on.
Because you don't boycott your partners,
you know, your friends.
And so that's what made this so neat,
is because the owners and the players got together,
and they formed a partnership in what they want to do.
They form... we're forming a coalition,
a justice coalition where we're gonna talk about voting,
uh, individual rights, uh, you know...
I love the fact that we're gonna get arenas involved,
registration, voter suppression, all these things.
We're also gonna form a group with this coalition
to fight just single things.
Now, the George Floyd bill, uh, it's on the House.
It just passed through the House.
It's sitting on the Senate floor.
And you and I know it'll probably sit there for a while,
but that's where voting comes back in.
So, uh, I just think what the players did and the owners did,
they pledged that they're gonna support each other
and create this coalition.
It's just fantastic.
Steve, before I let you go--
I know things are manic right now.
I wanted to find out what you hope the NBA as a whole
can achieve from this moment, and what you would hope
the government would do in playing their part.
You think it's hard to get a meeting
if you have one of the leading NBA players,
and one of our... our owners want to talk to a governor
or mayor or-or congressperson who... or whomever.
And, you know, now's the time.
A lot of things are gonna have to happen
that don't happen right now on a bipartisan basis,
-Mm-hmm. -and if you put the players
and the equity holders in our teams, the owners, if you will,
if you put us together, the ability to...
to, let me say, put pressure on both D's and R's
to come together to work out solutions
that really matter.
I think that's an extra advantage we have, uh, as a...
as a group, and that's why I love our justice coalition.
It's a chance to get, you know, a variety of people
with different viewpoints-- players and owners and coaches--
on the same page, and then give the messages to...
to our legislators, to our police chiefs,
to our prosecutors.
Man, are there a lot of elections that matter
in this area of racial justice.
As a fan of the NBA, I'm excited to see what you're doing.
Um, I hope that, you know, a lot of it gains traction,
and, um, hopefully, we'll get to enjoy the playoffs
and won't have to worry about these conversations,
because some of them will have been fixed.
Thank you so much for taking the time.
Good luck for the rest of the playoffs,
and, uh, we'll see you next time on the show.
Thanks, Trevor.