If they choose to not play, I fully fully support them.

The one thing that I will say is I was on a text chain with a bunch of guys that I played with, and I was like, People ask me all the time if I miss playing basketball on, the answer is no.

I was fortunate.

I played long enough.

I was good.

But this is a time right now where I wish I was still playing so I could be on the line with my brothers and so many of them that are still in the middle of this battle.

So well, said, Stephen and I've been waiting all morning long to ask you this because I really would like to know your opinion.

Um, if the players singular goal here, their primary focus is to effect the most possible and effective change.

Most impactful change they can at regarding issues of social justice and racial equality.

Do you believe they can best accomplish that by continuing to play or by essentially boycotting the remainder of the MBA postseason?

I think they can continue.

They could do about continuing to play.

That's my personal opinion.

I'm not advising them to take one position one way or the other, because I'm going to support whatever position they take.

A.

Zilong.

Is this a collective decision where they take into account all the necessary risk and still say, This is what we want to do?

No matter what that decision is there, my brothers and I'm going to stand by them.

It's just that simple.

But I do think it's important to recognize what the risks are.

And when we sit up here and we think about what's going to transpire, we have to understand something here.

Greeny.

You have a situation where you have the n b A.

Looking at them.

I had somebody in the in the league yesterday.

Tell me this.

This is last night at about one in the morning cause I've been up since four in the morning until four in the morning, talking to numerous owners, executives, coaches, players, etcetera.

And here's what one individual in the league said to me, Doc Rivers speech was so profound, so special, so riveting, so resonating.

Millions of people saw it.

If the games weren't being played, and Doc Rivers had just taken a selfie saying the same thing.

Maybe hundreds would have seen it.

The fact that the matter is the point that was being made, that his team playing and participating in this bubble has elevated the level of profile that exists for the players, the vast majority of them.

LeBron doesn't need it, but most of them dio.

And as a result of it, we believe the NBA is having a profoundly positive impact on what the agenda for the NBA players are now.

Obviously, you could listen to something like that, and you could say, Okay, you're the MBA.

You spent about $200 million in the bubble.

You had already lost hundreds of millions of dollars.

If not Mawr.

You can talk to the players about how they'll lose hundreds of millions of dollars and playerssalaries alone.

If the games don't continue how there's close to a billion dollars at stake.

If there's no MBA Finals on on ABC because of your telephone, the league's television contract with the network you can point to the billions that are going to be lost and say that might be motivation for the owners or league executives.

And what have you saying Such things?

My point is, are they telling the truth?

Are they not?

And if they are telling the truth and US players stand to lose billions of dollars because of collective bargaining, agreement is going to reopen.

And what have you those air risk that you have to take into consideration before you make this decision?

We have to remember they did not come back to play in the bubble just because they love the game of basketball.

They came back to protect the vast majority of the collective bargaining agreement they they had reached with the league a couple of years ago because had they not done so, the lead gets to rip up the C B A.

Come back to the table, taken into account, the losses accrued and the losses they're projecting to accrue and saying to the players, We partners right.

So we lost all of this.

It could be four billion.

It could be $5 billion.

Where's your state that you willing to give back because you got to give something back?

This is the kind of stuff that led to Chris Paul LeBron James and everybody else in between the Andre Iguodala of the World and others who are on the executive committee and stuff.

This is what led to them electing to come back to play.

They have to remember that when they're sitting down to make a decision going forward, and if they say we know we got it.

But we're still willing to sit out for the rest of this season to make that point.

Not only do I think that they would obviously be supported by the society at large, but I think a lot of owners would support him.

A swell, assuming that you're willing to, you know, suffer in terms of economic losses just the way we will suffer.

Nobody wants the game's not to continue, but you have to take those things into consideration and understand what you're working with and what you're working against in this climate.

That's that's such an important point.

And Sir Richard, I guess I would just ask you on the issue of unity or unanimity, if you will.

How important do you think it is that whatever it is, the players decide to do that they consult everyone that they're they're gonna meet today at 11 o'clock.

They need to emerge from this, doing something with one voice that feels very important here.

How does something like that get done?

Well, I think that was a little bit of the confusion, with the Milwaukee deciding to sit out.

Everyone supports them.

There is not one guy in that bubble that didn't support that move.

The only issue is informed.

The group informed the group that this is what we're considering.

This is what we're thinking.

We're letting you guys know and I don't think that that was fully communicated, even though everybody support him.

And in that meeting, woe talked about it.

They felt like the Milwaukee Bucks.

We're getting a little not on the defensive, but trying to explain themselves.

And Jalen Brown stood up and said, Hey, look, you don't have to explain anything willing, fully support you and that is a great point, but it's the same thing.

Everyone doesn't have to agree when they come in, but they do need to say where United.

It's like, Hey, maybe there's guys that want to play and the majority of the group decides that we don't want to play and then all of a sudden it's like, Okay, I'm out voted here.

I will stand next to my brother.

So to your point, it is about, you know, having a unity.

It is about, ah, united message and let's look around and see what happened on.

Next thing you know, baseball games have been have been postponed.

You start to look at, you know, athletes across across the globe are starting to sit out.

And so these are things that are like, once you are United thing, everyone can unite around you.

But if there's any division, that division will be used against you.