On a particularly terrible night, where sports felt even more trivial than they normally do, the insurrection in Washington, D.C., did not go unnoticed around the NBA. Several players and coaches rightfully called it out for what it was: an egregious case of white American exceptionalism.
Members of an angry mob stormed, and then breached, the United States Capitol without immediate consequence. “Racism is real. The issues are real. The protests are real,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said during a Zoom press conference. “What we’re seeing now is a sad reality that our country has yet to reckon with and acknowledge.