Just before the start of the game on Thursday night, the players, who were joined by coaches and game officials, knelt.
Players also wore black “Black Lives Matter” shirts both during warm-ups and in the National Anthem. Some contained messages such as “Equality”, “I am a man”, “Ally” and “Say your name”, sending a clear message in support of the social justice movement.
The NBA is not the first league to restart its season with players kneeling in support of the movement.
The WNBA, when the league started its season last week, dedicated the season to Breonna Taylor and the Say Her Name campaign. Outside of basketball, many MLB players also knelt when their season resumed earlier this month.
All of these protests occur amid riots in the US over the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd, and mirror that of Colin Kaepernick during the 2016-17 NFL season.
The NBA returned after a 20-week hiatus in a bubble call, in Orlando, Florida.
The league closed on March 11 when, just before the Utah Jazz faced the Thunder in Oklahoma City, it became known that Jazz center Rudy Gobert had tested positive for Covid-19.
On Thursday night, when play resumed, it was appropriate, then, that Gobert scored the first basket on a layup.
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