NBA Won’t Fine Players For ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Shirts
By Josh Sanchez
A number of NBA players have honored the memory of Eric Garner with “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts during pre-game warmups. Players will not be fined.
Over the weekend, Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose wore a t-shirt with the message, “I Can’t Breathe” to honor Eric Garner, a man who died in July after police placed him in a chokehold.
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Joining in the movement on Monday night were a number of players at the Barclays Center including Cleveland Cavaliers stars LeBron James, guard Kyrie Irving and Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Garnett and guards Deron Williams, Jarrett Jack and Alan Anderson.
While the “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts are well-received by the public, they do violate the NBA’s on-court attire rules because they are not provided or produced by adidas.
Despite the uniform code violation, the NBA has no plans to fine the players who have shown their support of Garner and his family in the recent days.
“I respect Derrick Rose and all of our players for voicing their personal views on important issues but my preference would be for players to abide by our on-court attire rules,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.
It is the right decision by the NBA and would have been an absolute PR nightmare for the league to fine players for something of this nature.
But we shouldn’t be surprised by the way Adam Silver has reacted, because he has consistently shown he is capable of running the league in a way that is very pleasing to the players and the fans.
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