Former NBA coach Phil Jackson got super real while speaking with Rick Rubin earlier this month for a podcast interview, that is now going viral for some comments that Jackson made about the BLM movement, including BLM slogans and logos popping up in the NBA.
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Former NBA Coach Phil Jackson Says He Hasn’t Watched A Game Since 2020 Because Of BLM Logos and Slogans
During his sit-down with Rubin, the iconic head coach — who retired in 2011 after winning 11 championships throughout his career with the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers, stemming from the ‘90s through the early 2010s — revealed that he has not watched an NBA game since 2020.
Host Rick Rubin asked, “Do you still watch a lot of basketball or no? When? And did you stop immediately from the time you stopped coaching?” To the first question, Jackson immediately blurted out, “No. I don’t.”
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To the second question, he explained, “No, I didn’t. *Sigh* I watched how the game evolved and decided … when they went into the lockout year and they did something that was kind of wanky. They did a bubble down in Orlando [Florida] and all the teams that could qualify went down there and stayed down there.”
Jackson continued, and mentioned the BLM slogans popping up in the NBA. He said, “And they had things on their back like, ‘Justice,’ and a little finny thing like, ‘Justice just went to the basket, and equal opportunity knocked him down.’ And somebody had another name for a guy who has … on the back of his jersey he had some other slogan. So, my grandkids thought that was pretty funny to play up those names. So, I couldn’t watch that.”
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Rubin then asked, “Do you feel like it just made little of the game? Like it made it like a sideshow? What do you think it was that turned you off?”
Jackson explained, “It was … They even had slogans on the floor. On the baseline. It was catering. It was trying to cater to an audience. Or try to bring a certain audience into play. And they didn’t know that it was turning other people off. People want to see sports as non-political.”
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Jackson concluded, “We’ve had a lot of different type of players that have gone on to be — like you know, Bill Bradley is a senator. A number of baseballs players have been representatives and senators, and political. But their politics stay out of the game. It doesn’t need to be there.”
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