Lakers legend sounds off on Phil Jackson’s NBA Social Justice Comments

On a recent podcast appearance, NBA legend Phil Jackson said he thinks the league hasn’t gotten too political. He shared that he hasn’t watched since the 2020 Covid-19 bubble.

Metta Sandiford-Artest — formerly Ron Artest — disagreed with his former coach. Jackson coached Sandiford-Artest for two NBA seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and the former player thinks there value in hearing what different groups have to say.

“Keep in mind, I’m NOT a politician. I’m from Queensbridge but I think people don’t really understand the trauma,” Sandiford-Artest said to Brandon Robinson, reflecting on the Covid-19 pandemic and social unrest following George Floyd’s killing in 2020. “This is locker room talk, barber shop talk, grocery store talk, especially with George Floyd with Black Lives Matter, right? And so from that perspective everybody’s so helpless. I did even though I’m not going to take my political stance but I did feel helpless. I felt helpless and confused.”

Feeling voiceless, Sandiford-Artest was appreciative when players came out in support of these causes.

Jackson found the social justice terms on jerseys in the bubble, in particular, to be part of a “wonky” vibe.

“All the teams that could qualify went down there and stayed down there, no audience, and they had things on their back like ‘Justice’ and a funny thing happened like ‘Justice went to the basket and Equal Opportunity knocked him down,’” Jackson said. “Some of my grandkids thought it was pretty funny to play up those names; I couldn’t watch that.”

As Sandiford-Artest continued, he kept emphasizing that bringing various people of differing backgrounds together is key. He stressed repeatedly the balancing of perspectives in working to address the issues at hand. He’s not arguing for much more than people to listen when other people are talking.

If sports is a venue where athletes playing can convey an important message to them, Sandiford-Artest is fine with that.

“How do you bring two groups together? Like these people [politicians] don’t get it and they don’t talk about the right things. You gotta dig into it and also you have to create balance and that’s the thing and you can’t be in it trying to make a quick buck — there’s no programs and the culture is like… where’s the culture at? Like where is it? The holidays are great but with some holidays, you gotta bring these people together, you know what I’m sayin’?” Sandiford-Artest said. “You need gatherings and without that it’s always going to be confusing; it’s always going to be some type of imbalance as a country as people focus on balance. And it’s always going to be like that.”