Austin Rivers wants Trayvon Martin tribute on his jersey in Orlando

Austin Rivers is hoping the NBA will expand its list of approved messages for jerseys in Orlando.

The resumption of the 2019-20 NBA season is less than a month away, but between the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and rampant social injustice and police brutality in this country, it’s hard to focus solely on basketball these days.

As such, the NBA has been working to make as many symbolic gestures as possible to support the Black Lives Matter movement that’s taken centerstage, which makes sense for a major American sports league that is decidedly more progressive than its peers and whose players are predominantly Black.

However, when ESPN’s Marc J. Spears first reported the list of approved messages players would be able to include on the backs of their jerseys for games within the Orlando bubble, the response was tepid at best. Plastering “Black Lives Matter” on the court and allowing players to put short phrases related to social justice on their jerseys was a nice idea in theory, but the execution was fairly underwhelming.

Some of the approved phrases like “Black Lives Matter,” “I Can’t Breathe,” “Enough” and “Say Their Names” can make an important statement, but many — like “I Am A Man,” “Education Reform” and the inexplicable “Group Economics” — were either downright corny or entirely pointless.

Austin Rivers seems to agree, taking to Instagram on Monday to express his hope that he’ll be able to honor Trayvon Martin on his own jersey in Orlando instead.

"“I appreciate the NBA giving us an opportunity to change our last names on our jerseys. Small things like this can matter and go a long way,” he wrote. “But the options are really limited. I’m from Orlando, Fla., 25 minutes away from where Trayvon Martin was innocently shot and murdered. To this day that anger and pain from that senseless hate crime still resonates in our country. But especially here in Orlando.“Would love to honor him and his family and help keep his name alive and strong. I want Trayvon on my back as I head to go lace ’em up in Orlando. Would mean a little something to all the people down there, especially his family and friends. He’s gone but not forgotten. All little things matter in this fight for BLM.”"

Rivers hits the nail right on the head. While the NBA means well, it doesn’t go far enough, and the limited options need to be expanded. As it stands, none of the approved phrases mention specific victims like Martin, Breonna Taylor or George Floyd, and not one mentions police brutality.

If the NBA wants to actually make a statement with these smaller gestures, expanding the list in the kind of way Rivers is talking about would be a promising start.