Barack Obama Counseled LeBron James, NBA Players On Playoff Boycott

Former President Barack Obama gave advice to a number of NBA players, including the Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James and the Oklahoma Thunder’s Chris Paul amid discussions about a possible playoff boycott following an officer-involved shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, that left a 29-year-old black man in critical condition.

CNN reports that Paul reached out to the former president last week following the shooting in Kenosha, to ask whether Obama would consider speaking with a small group of NBA players who were considering drastic action to draw attention to social justice causes.

The call included LeBron James, who is widely believed to have led a player effort to force the NBA to cancel its playoffs — an effort that ended with the NBA postponing, but not canceling, games and pledging to have the playoffs go forward as planned.

The players, including James, ultimately agreed to end the boycott after just one day citing fears that other, less well-paid professional basketball players, might find themselves in dire financial straits if the season came to a swift and unplanned conclusion.

“Before NBA players decided to resume playing, National Basketball Players Association President Chris Paul reached out to Barack Obama, a person familiar with the call told CNN and asked the former President if he would offer his counsel to a group of NBA players,” the outlet reported. “The source also confirmed that Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James was on the call. It was Paul, the source said, who organized the discussion.”

Obama’s spokesperson, Kate Hill, told the network that Obama simply provided the players with an opportunity to discuss the matter.

“As an avid basketball fan, President Obama speaks regularly with players and league officials,” she said. “When asked, he was happy to provide advice on Wednesday night to a small group of NBA players seeking to leverage their immense platforms for good after their brave and inspiring strike in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting.”

Obama reportedly helped the small group of players establish terms under which they would agree to return to play.

“They discussed establishing a social justice committee to ensure that the players’ and league’s actions this week led to sustained, meaningful engagement on criminal justice and police reform,” Hill said.

The NBA struggled with its own players last week after the Jacob Blake shooting. The Milwaukee Bucks announced that they were boycotting their playoff game altogether in protest of the incident, which saw police officers, reportedly called to the scene by Blake’s former girlfriend who claimed Blake was defying a restraining order, tangle physically with Blake before he escaped, returned to a gray SUV, opened the door, and reached down into the floor on the driver’s side. A Kenosha police officer, holding Blake by the back of his shirt, fired seven rounds into Blake’s back.

Blake is said to be paralyzed from the waist down. The officers are suspended pending an investigation.

The NBA resumed play after a one-day boycott last week.

The post Barack Obama Counseled LeBron James, NBA Players On Playoff Boycott appeared first on Conservative Fighters.



from News – Conservative Fighters https://ift.tt/2YQyHNU
via IFTTT

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rosie O’Donnell Calls for Trump Assassination… REGRETS IT IMMEDIATELY!

Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump have been engaged in a bitter feud for over a decade. Rosie’s hatred for Trump has only escalated since he became president, but this week, she took things way too far when she called for him to be assassinated. It didn’t take long for Rosie to learn that she’d made a huge mistake… Mad World News reported that Rosie took to Twitter on Saturday to endorse a ridiculous new game called Push Trump Off A Cliff Again. The despicable game allows players to kill Trump by pushing him off a cliff. Push Trump Off A Cliff Again https://t.co/YguB3aG8EP — ROSIE (@Rosie) July 15, 2017 The virtual game instructs players to “Take out your frustrations with [the] President by pushing him off a virtual cliff, or into a virtual volcano.” An image of Trump screams things like “Bye!” and “I’m really rich!” as he tumbles to his death. Twitter users immediately fired back at Rosie and let her know that simulating the assassination of the president is never okay. Bett
Read more

WALSH: Yes, Ilhan Omar’s Alleged Adultery Matters. Here’s Why.

According to court documents, Rep. Ilhan Omar allegedly had an affair with a married DC consultant. The wife of Omar’s alleged lover made the claims in divorce filings, insisting that her marriage was ultimately destroyed by the tryst between the congresswoman and her husband. Previous reports claimed that Omar “dumped” her own husband earlier in the summer. Conventional modern wisdom would tell us that the only newsworthy and relevant aspect of this salacious story is the possible abuse of campaign funds, as reported by the Washington Examiner: Omar’s alleged paramour, Tim Mynett, has been a fundraising consultant for Omar’s 2018 and 2020 campaigns… …Of the $145,406 reported earnings by the E Street Group during the 2018 campaign cycle, $62,674 came from Omar’s campaign. Not counting payroll taxes and transfers to Minnesota’s Democratic Party, E Street Group was Omar’s second-largest vendor, according to FEC data. From Labor Day through the end of the year, E Street Group ate up mo
Read more

Newly Declassified FBI Materials Show Bureau Treated Clinton, Trump Campaigns Differently On Foreign Interference

FBI documents and communications that were recently declassified show the bureau treated foreign interference on Hillary Clinton’s campaign differently than it did with President Donald Trump’s campaign. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC) released the documents on Sunday with a lengthy statement about the contents: There was a clear double standard by the Department of Justice and FBI when it came to the Trump and Clinton campaigns in 2016. These newly released documents indicate that a foreign government was trying to influence the Clinton campaign through a campaign associate and the FBI was seeking a FISA warrant. However, the Bureau, as it is supposed to do, required that Hillary Clinton be defensively briefed about the matter so she could engage in corrective action. When it came to the Trump campaign, there were four counterintelligence investigations opened against Trump campaign associates. Not one time was President Trump defensively briefed about th
Read more