Utah Jazz players try to stay informed on social issues — and occasionally are outspoken

Even as he’s been sidelined by a knee injury, there are some arenas in which Rudy Gobert is ready as ever to throw his weight around.

When he saw a tweet Friday night by alt-right political commentator Tomi Lahren defending comments by President Donald Trump on “s---hole countries,“ he stepped in.

“Do you know what it means to have Dreams?” he wrote on Twitter. “To actually have to work for something? Does the fact that i left France to come chase my dream here makes France a s---hole? Or that just applies to African countries? Getting paid to divide people really looks like a s---ty job.”

With nearly 19,000 retweets and 65,000 likes by Sunday afternoon, Gobert made himself heard on the issue. And those kind of stances are becoming a normal part of how NBA stars interact with the world.

Social consciousness is experiencing a renaissance in sports — perhaps its most prominent moment since the days of Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Muhammad Ali. Athletes taking a stand on issues of police tactics, immigration and presidential politics dominated headlines in 2017, and in the current climate, it hardly seems about to let up.

On Monday, the NBA is paying healthy tribute to civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. All weekend, teams have sported special warmup shirts that have excerpts from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech delivered in front of the Lincoln Memorial in 1963.

Perhaps one of the most relevant and lasting impacts of King’s life is empowering people to speak up on social issues — and that’s something that several athletes on the Jazz are not shy about taking up.

While athletes’ social opinions have been controversial to say the least, the Jazz and the NBA at large seem to view their ability to speak up on issues as an important right worth fighting for. Coach Quin Snyder didn’t blink when asked about it.

“It’s not something you could overemphasize because it’s that important,” he said. “I think when you’re part of a team, a team that has diversity built in, that goes on all the time. When those opinions are strong enough, at the appropriate time, when guys feel like they want to express them outside the group or publicly, they’re usually well-thought out. They’re important. They’re meaningful. That’s why guys are talking about them.”

What are the Jazz talking about? A lot of things.

Aside from his exchange with Lahren, Gobert recently weighed in on controversy after the clothing company H&M posted a picture of a young black boy wearing a sweatshirt that read “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle.” Other NBA stars, such as LeBron James, were part of the avalanche of criticism that eventually pushed H&M to taking the sweatshirt out of stores.

Thabo Sefolosha, who received a $4 million settlement with the NYPD after a 2015 incident in which police officers broke his leg, is also outspoken, particularly when it comes to Trump. Even before the season began, he criticized Trump for calling NFL players who kneel during the national anthem “sons of b----es.” (Both Gobert and Sefolosha, who are dealing with injuries, were not available to comment about their stances for this story.)

Other issues might be more personal: Ekpe Udoh recently posted a photo of a school lunch in Oklahoma City that had meatloaf, an orange, milk and nothing else. Udoh became more sensitive to issues of nutrition and poverty while playing overseas in Turkey, and it moved him to speak out when he saw children were being underserved in his native state.

“There needs to be public school lunch reform, because that’s unacceptable,” he told The Tribune. “But that’s what they’re feeding kids at lunchtime and expecting them to go sit in a classroom and focus and learn what they need to learn. It’s pretty outrageous to me.”

These topics and more are banter in the locker room. Several players told The Tribune that the Jazz players and coaching staff support intellectual discussions about social topics. And it’s often after some of this internal discussion that the players feel empowered enough to weigh in publicly.

“I think our players are all very socially conscious,” Snyder said. “That’s been something to a certain degree a lot of the political climate has been such that it’s required people to talk and think and share. It’s a healthy thing.”

But is there a line? While James — who is the best player in the world — has been free to weigh in on issues, recently wearing shoes bearing the word “EQUALITY,” others question how secure their jobs are if they venture into less popular opinions. While Colin Kaepernick has gained a groundswell of respect from many athletes for his willingness to put his career on the line for his political opinions, they’ve also noted that he’s no longer in the NFL.

“Sometimes what the public doesn’t want us to hear, that’s what makes us shy back from what some players want to say — I’m not saying myself,” Donovan Mitchell said. “But when you look at the Colin Kaepernick situation, he said what he wanted to say, and now he’s out of a job. So some guys look at that situation, and say, ‘Oh, maybe I can’t.’”

A rookie in the league, Mitchell does seem to be finding a voice on off-court issues. He’s worn a handful of shirts from a New York outfitter Color X Blind, which has a line of clothing celebrating diversity. He ordered a pair of custom shoes honoring King to wear in Monday’s game against the Indiana Pacers. While he won’t be able to wear them in the game because they don’t match Jazz uniform colors, he’ll probably sport them while warming up.

On one shoe, it reads “I have a dream.” On the other, “Let freedom ring.” It’s important, Mitchell said, to keep King’s memory alive — in as many ways as possible.

“Being able to play on that day is incredible: It means a lot to me, and it’s not just a regular day at work,” he said. “The best thing about this team is we have guys who talk about things like this. If you look at how diverse our team is, our coaching staff is, it’s a testament to what he’s done. It’s definitely an honor to play on this day.”