“Billions and Billions of Dollars”: Utah Jazz Player Explains How the NBA Restart Would Help the Ongoing Protests

Utah Jazz veteran Ed Davis believes restarting the NBA would help the ongoing protests against racism with the money that the tournament brings in.

Since the NBA agreed on a restart with 22 teams in Oakland, a few players have opposed the idea. The major concern among those against the restart was a possibility of the NBA affecting the ongoing protests against societal issues. Among those were Kyrie Irving and Dwight Howard. While Irving led a conference call to discuss the issue Howard later released a statement agreeing with the Brooklyn Nets star’s views.

But for Ed Davis saw positive effects that the NBA season resuming could have on the fight against injustice. He believed the money that the league brings in would go back to the society.

“With where we’re at as Black culture and how we’re so far behind when it comes to black people and the wealth we have, the money we have, us missing the rest of this season (and possibly next year), we’re talking about billions and billions of dollars for the black community because a lot of guys in the NBA are black men from the inner cities and things like that. So, the way I look at it, we have to play for that simple fact,” Davis said talking to Hoops Hype.

Ed Davis of Utah Jazz believed players of smaller stature could suffer if the league does not resume

Davis further talked about how Stephen Jackson’s recent comments saying how the NBA would be a distraction. The 31-year old stressed about the fact that the NBA would be a source of income for many players.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a distraction, but we can take that money – those billions and billions of dollars – that we’re going to make and pour it back in the community. You can look at it like that – that us losing out on that money would hurt generations of people.”

During the interview, Davis also talked about how the players of smaller stature could suffer. He said that superstar players like Kyrie might not suffer but smaller players could suffer with a cut in their salaries.

Ed Davis and Utah Jazz will want a relatively deep run in the playoffs if and when the league resumes. Prior to the league’s suspension, they were fourth in the Western Conference with a win-loss record of 41-23.