The NBA has embraced the 'Black Lives Matter' movement during the suspension of the season in a much larger way than they had previously following the death of George Floyd.

“We didn’t view ‘Black Lives Matter’ as a political matter. We viewed this as a broader movement. This is a human rights issue,” NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum said in a telephone interview with The Athletic. “Black Lives Matter has come to represent a broader movement around racial inequality and we support our players, our coaches, our staff, our teams, in speaking out on these critically important issues.”

More than three-quarters of the players in the NBA are African-American.