Bill Walton on the conditioning of NBA players

Mick Jagger is in better shape than far too many NBA players.  It's up in the air whether the same can be said of Keith Richards.

~ Bill Walton

Andrew Wiggins on getting vaccinated

I still wish I didn't get it, to be honest with you...  I did it, and I was an All-Star this year and champion, so that was the good part, just not missing out on the year, the best year of my career.  But for my body, I just don't like putting all that stuff in my body, so I didn't like that and I didn't like that it wasn't my choice.  I didn't like that it was either get this or don't play.

~ Andrew Wiggins, "Golden State Warriors' Andrew Wiggins still regrets getting COVID-19 vaccine, despite All-Star, title season," ESPN.com, July 20, 2022

ESPN on the NBA's Covid crisis

NBA players are testing positive and heading into quarantine at an unprecedented rate. As of Monday afternoon, 214 players have entered the league's health and safety protocols this season, with 201 coming in December and 170 in the past two weeks. Six NBA head coaches have entered protocols this season, all in December. 

Twenty-eight players entered protocols on Sunday, a new single-day high for the season, eclipsing the previous high of 17 on Dec. 17 and Dec. 23. Monday, which saw 13 players and two head coaches enter protocols, marked the 12th day in the past 14 in which there have been double-digit player additions to the protocols list. 

Through Monday, 541 NBA players have played in at least one game this season, setting a record for the most in a season ever, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.

~ "Memo: Vaccinated NBA players, coaches can now test out of quarantine in six days," ESPN, December 27, 2021

Andrew Wiggins on his decision to submit to local vaccine mandates

I guess to do certain stuff, to work, you don't own your body.  That's what it comes down to.  If you want to work in society today, then I guess they made the rules of what goes in your body and what you do.

~ Andrew Wiggins

( As quoted in "Warriors' Andrew Wiggins explains decision to get COVID-19 vaccine: Options were 'to get vaccinated or not play in the NBA'," ESPN.com, October 5, 2021.)

Kevin Duffy on the political correctness bubble

Organizations like Twitter, the NBA, Nike, major universities, etc. are destroying themselves with wokeness. We should celebrate that. As the big trees fall, the forest will rejuvenate. Alternative voices like ours are the green shoots in the forest.

~ Kevin Duffy, LinkedIn comment to Jesse Columbo, October 23, 2020

Kevin Duffy on brand destruction

I don't recall a time of so much self-inflicted brand destruction: NBA, ESPN, mainstream media, Democratic Party, Federal Reserve, U.S. Dollar.

~ Kevin Duffy, tweet, September 10, 2020

Stephen A. Smith on the Brooklyn Nets hiring Steve Nash as head coach

Ladies and gentleman, there's no way around this.  This is white privilege.  This does not happen for a black man.  No experience whatsoever on any level as a coach?  And you get the Brooklyn Nets job?

~ Stephen A. Smith, "Stephen A. reacts to the Nets hiring Steve Nash as the next head coach," First Take on YouTube, 2:00 mark, September 3, 2020

Black and White Sports on NBA social activism

Everything involving the NBA is a dumpster fire.

~ Black and White Sports, "CHARLES BARKLEY HAMMERS Stephen A. Smith over "White Privilege" Comments after DOUBLE DOWN!," YouTube, 5:25 mark, September 5, 2020

Kevin Duffy on the politicization of the NBA: "We're living in the Matrix"

The NBA has done irreparable damage to their brand.  Credibility takes a long time to build, but can be lost overnight.  What David Stern created, Adam Silver destroyed by toeing the official line.

The politicization of the NBA was predictable because the franchise enjoys a symbiotic relationship with government, including subsidies for lavish sports arenas.  These subsidies (payed by the taxpayer) go into the pockets of billionaire owners and millionaire players.  Welfare for the rich.

Instead of being grateful, they insult the very people who support them.  Worse, they insult our intelligence promoting a bogus cause.  (If anyone who worked for the NBA, TNT or ESPN condemned black communities for disproportionately high levels of fatherless families and violent crime, they'd be fired in a heartbeat.  "Action" always means extracting more money from the hapless taxpayer and never taking responsibility.)

The official narratives don't just stop at BLM.  If you're in a bubble, and everyone is testing negative for Covid and young and healthy, why the incessant mask-wearing?  Why is a young, attractive female reporter wearing a mask when she's practically the only person in the gym?  This is nothing more than cramming more of the official propaganda down our throats. It's not even subtle.

We're living in the Matrix.

~ Kevin Duffy, August 27, 2020

Clay Travis on declining ratings of the NBA

I think the NBA has gone woke, and they're starting to go broke.

~ Clay Travis, "NBA ratings have been GARBAGE lately, losing nightly to Fox News," YouTube, August 13, 2020

Jimmy Butler on political activism and the NBA

In a sense that we get to feel how we want to feel, and we get to express it in our way.  The way that the league, the players, the coaches, are kneeling in unity, and if you decide to stand in unity, it's what needs to be done.  Because the greater good, and the goal that we're trying to get across, it will be reached.  And I'm happy to see everybody in on it.

~ Jimmy Butler, Miami Heat forward, comment during a post-practice video call, July 31, 2020

Denver Nuggets basketball player: "I think the coronavirus is being used obviously for a bigger agenda"

Personally, I think the coronavirus is being used obviously for a bigger agenda.  It's being used for population control in just terms of being able to control the masses of people.  I mean, because of the virus the whole world is being controlled.  You're required to wear masks.  And who knows what will happen when this vaccine comes out?  You might have to have the vaccine in order to travel.  Like, that would be crazy.

~ Michael Porter, Jr., 22 year old forward on the Denver Nuggets, July 29, 2020