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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – The Raptors-Celtics series has the chance to be epic. It’s a matchup of the NBA’s two hottest clubs, facing off in the playoffs for the first time ever. A lot of people have been looking forward to it for a long time, including the players and teams themselves.

However, with Thursday’s Game 1 approaching fast, neither team has much interest in talking about basketball, and it’s hard to blame them.

“Yeah, I mean I was pretty excited and then we all had to watch Jacob Blake get shot [on Sunday], so that kind of changes the tone of things and puts things in perspective,” Toronto’s Fred VanVleet said over videoconference from the NBA Bubble in Orlando on Tuesday.

“That’s really kind of all that’s been on my mind. Coming down here and making the choice to play was supposed to not be in vain, but it’s just starting to feel like everything we’re doing is just going through the motions and nothing’s really changing, and here we are again with another unfortunate incident.”

VanVleet and his Raptors teammate, Norman Powell, spoke for 32 powerful minutes, with each player sharing their frustrations over the police shooting of Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Sunday.

Blake is hospitalized and in critical condition after being shot in the back seven times as he tried to get into his SUV. His three young children were in the vehicle when he was shot. Meanwhile, the three officers – who were responding to a domestic disturbance – have been put on administrative leave as Wisconsin’s Department of Justice conducts their investigation.

This incident, which was caught on video, comes three months after George Floyd’s death at the hands – or the knee – of a Minneapolis police officer, and five months after Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in Kentucky. Their deaths, and countless others, have sparked a global call to action and demand for change.

The NBA has made it a focus of their restart, as have the Raptors, who arrived onto the Disney campus in buses that displayed “Black Lives Matter” along the sides. Teams are kneeling in peaceful protest during the national anthems and the messaging has been consistent throughout the league – on T-shirts, media backdrops, masks, and even written on the courts.

But is that enough?

“What are we willing to give up?” VanVleet asked. “Do we actually give a f--- about what’s going on, or is it just cool to wear Black Lives Matter on the backdrop or wear a T-shirt? Like, what does that really mean? Is it really doing anything?”

The Raptors met as a team on Tuesday morning to discuss a variety of ways they can amplify their voices further and truly make an impact in this continued fight for social justice. One of the things they’ve considered, according to Powell, is the possibility of boycotting games.

“I think it’s been talked about,” Powell said. “There are a lot of things that are being talked about in how to approach this sensitive issue. I think everybody’s at the point of sitting up here and saying Black Lives Matter and sitting up having discussions and Zoom calls and this, that and the other, putting apparel on, that’s not getting the job done. Taking the knee from the anthem, that’s not getting the job done. It’s starting to get washed out.”

“At the end of the day if we’re gonna sit here and talk about making change, then at some point we’re gonna have to put our nuts on the line and actually put something up to lose, rather than just money or visibility,” said VanVleet.

The Celtics, who also met before practice on Tuesday, echoed similar frustrations.

“In a sense, you kind of feel very helpless here in the bubble,” said Boston’s Jaylen Brown. “You kind of feel like you want to do more. I feel like I should be out there protesting like a lot of people are doing right now, but I’m here, in a bubble, playing basketball. I do think the NBA has done a great job, initially, to kind of give us the platform to speak on certain things and things like that, but I do kind of feel like it is kind of lessened as the playoffs have gotten started. Things have kind of diminished. I’m curious to see what creative ways, if people put their minds together, to continue to push these conversations to make me feel more comfortable about playing basketball in the middle of a lot of the things that are going on.”

In a normal time, the Raptors and Celtics would be preparing to do battle. Toronto would be focused on slowing down the star trio of Brown, Jayson Tatum and Kemba Walker, while Boston locks in on the red-hot VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and the defending champs. The story would be Kyle Lowry, whose status for Game 1 is uncertain on account of his sprained left ankle.

But these are not normal times and this is not business as usual.

Police brutality and systemic anti-Black racism are not a new reality – they’ve been rampant for centuries. With the spotlight shining on these issues in recent months, VanVleet – like many others – had hoped that progress was being made. The shooting of Blake serves as another disheartening reminder that there is still plenty of work to be done.

“There are some officers in law enforcement that need to be held accountable for their actions,” Powell said. “I'm tired of reading and seeing these incidents, and then seeing these police officers being put on administrative leave. Like, okay, you killed somebody, go have a vacation and we'll figure out what really happened? For me, if you're in that position and have that badge, you're supposed to wear it with honour. It's to protect and serve everybody. You need to be held to a higher standard of the law since you're the one enforcing it. And the fact that you constantly see people with that uniform on getting away and being acquitted and not being charged with murder, when you see first-hand video of that happening, it's frustrating. We can't allow that.

“It’s on all of us to actually stand up and demand things, and get in front of these people's faces that make the laws and have the power to fully effect change, and force them to. Until that is done, s--- ain’t gonna change. I'm gonna sit up here and answer your guys' questions and continue to say Black Lives Matter, but until all who believe that and see what's going on are ready to step up and lay it on the line to make real change and move towards real progress and take the [police officers] that don't belong in that field out, we're gonna keep seeing it over and over again.”

So, for VanVleet, Powell and the Raptors – like the Celtics, and many players around the NBA – their focus will be divided between basketball and something far more important.

“I like to acknowledge that if nobody feels like playing basketball or playing basketball or talking about basketball or anything, that’s OK,” said Toronto head coach Nick Nurse. “You have to understand that the priorities of what matters may be different than basketball for some guys and I’m certainly willing to take as much time, cancel things that were basketball-related, whatever, just to make sure these guys are OK and give them a platform to speak, give them a platform to share ideas.”

“I don’t really care about [the Boston series] right now, to be honest with you,” VanVleet said. “I’m sure [when] Thursday comes I’ll be able to lock in, basketball’s not really that hard for me. To be honest with you, I haven’t thought much about it. I know that [they’re] an unbelievably talented team, they’re a great team and I think the fans have been looking forward to this for a long time. When we get to that point, if we get to that point, then we’ll deal with that when it comes. Right now, today, on Tuesday, I could care less.”​