NBPA director cherishes time in bubble
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Michele Roberts planned on being in the NBA’s restart bubble at Walt Disney World for a few days. Three weeks, at most.
She never left.
The executive director of the National Basketball Players Association will be in the bubble from start to finish, meaning she’ll be there when either the Los Angeles Lakers or Miami Heat get their hands on the Larry O’Brien Trophy at the conclusion of the NBA Finals, which resumed Friday night with Game 2. Her reason for staying: Her realization of how much work that could be done on matters relating to social justice and the fight against racial inequality, along with the chance to connect with so many players individually on such a regular basis.
“I wouldn’t trade having
done this for the world,” Roberts said in an interview with The Associated Press. “You have a chance to interact at a level that I, through the last 6 1⁄ years,
2 have never had. We’ve had our meetings, around each other for a day and a half or two days, but this was different. It’s been worth every second of it. Hard, but worth every second.”
Players have raved about her presence, how much it meant to them. And outside of the Lakers and Heat, she’s been at
Disney longer than any player.
It took weeks of intense talks just to come up with the health and safety rules for the bubble, not to mention the format. There were negotiations to get “Black Lives Matter” painted on the courts and for the league to make the unprecedented allowance for social expressions to be sewn onto the backs of jerseys. And there was the very delicate three-day period in late August when players, led by the Milwaukee Bucks, considered abandoning the season because of ongoing issues related to police brutality toward Black people in this country.
“The struggle has predated my life. Sadly, it’ll probably postdate my life,” Roberts said. “What I think the platform has done, is given players an opportunity to contribute to the struggle, to help to move the needle that is so stubbornly wanting to be moved at a pace much less rapid than we’d like. I think they’ve done that.”
Roberts, 64, began practicing law 40 years ago. Her direct style appeals to players.
“She performs well in any environment, and it seems like the uglier the environment, the higher she performs,” said Miami guard Andre Iguodala, who also serves as a NBPA officer. “And especially when it gets tense and it gets pressure time. That’s when she shines brightest. We’ve had some tough days even before we got to the bubble and it really wasn’t looking good, and she was a voice of reason.”