On Tuesday, the Lakers gathered the coaches, players, and some team executives together for a Zoom meeting to talk about the protests and unrest in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.
Former Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the guest speaker and according to some sources that were in the call, he was pretty upset. If you know Abdul-Jabbar, he is never one to shy away from talking about social injustices.
Despite speaking of civil issues, those in the call talked about how the Lakers organization and players can help shed some positive light and change as we all try and go forward in Los Angeles and surrounding cities.
LeBron James was also a speaker who stood out in expressing his thoughts and views about the problems that African-Americans deal with daily in this country. If you remember, James had a racial slur spray-painted on his gate outside of his Brentwood home in 2017. Although James wasn’t home at the time, it did cause a major disruption in his life.
Amongst the questions that players and coaches received and asked, Abdul-Jabbar was asked “a lot of great questions” about how dealt with all while playing ball in the ’60s and ’70s. James apparently had told Abdul-Jabbar that it was “very cool” to see a picture of a younger Abdul-Jabbar with other famous African-American famous athletes when they gathered in 1967 to support Ali’s stance on his refusal to be drafted.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel and general manager Rob Pelinka were also there to speak about the issues. Team owner Jeanie Buss and Tim Harris, the president of business operations were also on hand.
According to sources in the meeting it had been said that:
“The Lakers did a great job letting their players have a voice. The Lakers understand what’s happening. They have always been about helping their community and that hasn’t stopped even now when the Lakers and others sports teams are needed the most.”
