Mavericks’ Rick Carlisle starts each press conference with reading from Equal Justice Initiative

Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle begins each press conference in a unique way.

The NBA has been at the forefront of the ongoing social justice movement in the United States for months now, and its players aren’t the only ones trying to raise awareness with their words and actions inside the Orlando bubble.

Though he’s not able to sport a game jersey with social justice messages on the back or inspire the younger generation of hoopers quite like the players do, Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle is making the most of his platform by beginning each media availability session with a more important message than anything basketball-related.

As Los Angeles Lakers beat reporter Tania Ganguli notes, every day, Carlisle begins his press conferences by reading from the Equal Justice Initiative calendar. Every day, that calendar lists an anniversary of a moment relevant to racial injustice in America.

Monday’s entry was about Watts riots, sometimes referred to as the Watts Rebellion or Watts Uprising, back in 1965:

Rick Carlisle and the Mavericks are utilizing their platforms to promote social change

In the video, Carlisle recounts how the incident, sparked by white police officers baiting a young Black man, ultimately left 34 dead, 1,032 injured, nearly 4,000 arrested and $40 million in damage.

After a brief pause to allow the reporters to absorb this information, the Mavs head coach abruptly changed gears and started talking about basketball and his team’s upcoming playoff series against the LA Clippers.

It’s jarring to step back and realize this is the nature of press conferences in sports these days, especially when it comes to the NBA, but it’s decidedly less jarring than the more important realizations about inequality in America that many have come to following the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and too many others.