Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson says he no longer follows the NBA for being ‘awake’ and too ‘political’ after it went into a bubble in 2020 supporting Black Lives Matter
- The Lakers and Bulls legend admitted that he no longer enjoys the game
- ‘Politics are left out; it doesn’t have to be there,” said the 77-year-old
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Hall of Fame basketball coach Phil Jackson has admitted he no longer follows the NBA because it has become “woke up” and too “political” since the 2020 bubble.
The 77-year-old, who won 11 NBA championships as a head coach, claimed he has been out of touch with recent developments in the league since 2020. Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin podcast.
Three years ago, postseason games were played in the “bubble” at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and players were allowed to put messages on the back of their jerseys such as “Justice” and “Black Lives Matter.” Only a few kept their last names on their shirts.
“I don’t enjoy the game,” Jackson said on the April 5 podcast. “There’s a whole generation that doesn’t like the game.
“They did something weird, they did a bubble in Orlando, and all the teams that could qualify went there and stayed there.”
Phil Jackson admitted he no longer enjoys watching NBA games, blowing up the league for being too ‘political’
Players were allowed to post messages on the back of their jerseys such as “Justice” and “Black Lives Matter” in the 2020 NBA Bubble
NBA players were also allowed to protest the national anthem by kneeling when it was played
Jackson, who won rings with the Chicago Bulls (1989-1998) and Los Angeles Lakers (1999-2004, 2005-2011), added, “And they had things on their backs like ‘Justice.’ something like, “Justice just went to the basket and Equal Opportunity just knocked it down.”
‘[…] My grandchildren thought it was quite amusing to come up with those names. […] I couldn’t look at that.’
“The Lakers won that year,” he recalls. “They even had slogans on the floor and the baseline. It was trying to accommodate an audience or draw a certain audience to the game, and they didn’t know it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.
‘Politics are left out; it doesn’t have to be there.’
Prior to the start of the 2020 NBA bubble, the US was in lockdown following the spread of COVID-19 in all 50 states. At the time, racial tensions also rose after several high-profile police killings, including the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The NBA stepped in and made players kneel during the national anthem as a form of protest against racial inequality. The league also displayed “Black Lives Matters” on the hardwood of the basketball courts. Players were allowed to also choose a social justice message to wear on the back of their uniforms.
Phil Jackson won 11 NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers. Seen with Michael Jordan in June 1998
Jackson – a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame – won three consecutive NBA rings with the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant (2000-02)
“Phil Jackson says he no longer watches the NBA because it should be non-political and not support slogans like “Black Lives Matter,” tweeted Bishop Talbert Swan, a Massachusetts-based religious leader who supports the NAACP.
The league is 80 percent black. He didn’t mind that Jordan, @ScottiePippen, @kobebryant, @SHAQ and especially black players gave him 11 championships.”
Jackson made an NBA comeback in 2014 when he was named the Knicks’ president of basketball operations, though he was pushed out the door in 2017 after failing to build a team that could compete for a title , let alone make the playoffs.
He also made some bad trades in his three years as head of the Knicks front office, including sending off Kristaps Porzingis and Carmelo Anthony.
One of the top 10 coaches in NBA history, Jackson was also never forgiven by Knicks fans for choosing Donovan Mitchell over Frank Ntilikina in the 2017 NBA Draft.