Growing up in Akron, Ohio, elections didn’t mean much to LeBron James. “Voting was not on my mind,” he says. In Rockford, Illinois, Fred VanVleet didn’t see the point. “I grew up in a place where you feel hopeless,” the Raptors guard says. “No matter who the president is or who is in office, nothing changes.” In Indianapolis, Mike Conley rarely paid attention to who was running. “We weren’t watching the news,” says the Jazz veteran. “We weren’t trying to get caught up on legislation and laws.”
Inside the NBA bubble, players had priorities. On the court, to win a championship.