Players boasting election energy

96 percent now registered to vote

As Lebron James puffed championship cigars and guzzled champagne in the wake of his four th title earlier this month, the NBA’S landmark work stoppage, which took place only a month-and-a-half earlier, seemed a distant memor y.

During three tumultuous days in late August, with dozens of players sequestered inside the “bubble” following the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin, James and Chris Paul, the president of the players’ union, faced an extraordinar y decision.

James’ Lakers were ready to leave Orlando. They were hardly alone. Amid a summer of protests following George Floyd’s death after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes, wouldn’t the continuation of games cheapen the cause?

It wasn’t until speaking with former President Barack Obama that players found a direction.

Nuggets point guard Monte Morris, the team’s union representative, recalled the tension. At a meeting hastily convened on the first night of the work stoppage, Morris listened intently to Paul.

“He was the one who said, ‘We gotta get our (expletive) up and vote,’” Morris told The Denver Post. “He threw the numbers out of the percentage of guys who hadn’t done it. It was eye-opening. I think ever yone took it serious and said, ‘Yeah, we can’t be selfish.’”

Paul told his fellow players that only 20% had voted in the 2016 election, a number the NBPA confirmed to The Denver Post. The implicit message: If you care enough to halt the NBA playoffs over racial strife, why don’t you care enough to vote?

Voter registration has skyrocketed among NBA players since that meeting. Today, more than 96% of players are registered to vote in the upcoming election, including 20 teams that are at 100%.