WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 28: Miami Heat player LeBron James (L) speaks to U.S. President Barack Obama (R) during an event to honor the NBA champion Miami Heat in the East Room at the White House on January 28, 2013 in Washington, DC. President Barack Obama congratulated the 2012 NBA champions for claiming their third NBA Championship by beating the Boston Celtics. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
LeBron James, Chris Paul and a small group of NBA players sought out advice from former President Barack Obama who urged them to return to play.
After a wildcat strike saw three NBA playoff games postponed on Wednesday and additional games delayed on Thursday and Friday before, LeBron James and NBA Players Association president Chris Paul met with former President Barack Obama on their next step.
Obama urged the players to return and use their platform to continue being a voice for tangible change. That tangible change is already taking place with every NBA arena being used as a polling location with registering players to vote and urging others to get out and vote one of the more vocal issues they’re addressed.
LeBron James, Chris Paul, NBA players got advice from Barack Obama on what they should do next after a wildcat strike put a pause to the NBA playoffs.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania was the first to report the small meeting between LeBron, Paul, President Obama and a few other NBA players.
The conversations took place after a contentious and emotional players-only meeting on Wednesday evening following the postponement of the first three games. James reportedly walked out of the Wednesday players’ meeting, but after the Lakers and Clippers were the only two teams to informally vote against resuming the season, all teams and players were on the same page to resume this Saturday.
According to Charania’s report, LeBron was on a call with team governors whose teams are still in the postseason bubble and spoke about his desire for a follow-up on the plans for social justice reform once the season ends. The reaction to what LeBron said was that he made some strong and valid points.