Legendary coach Phil Jackson was trending on the Internet Saturday due to comments he made criticizing the NBA on the podcast “Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin.”
During the April 5 podcast, the 11-time NBA champion said he stopped watching games during the 2020 NBA Bubble in Orlando because the league had become too political.
The Orlando games were held during the COVID-19 pandemic and came on the heels of George Floyd’s death in police custody and subsequent protests in May.
“It [the NBA] was trying to cater to an audience or trying to bring a certain audience to the game,” Jackson said. He continued, “People want to see sports as non-political. Politics stays out of the game; it doesn’t need to be there.” (RELATED: Scottie Pippen Says Phil Jackson Is Racist)
Jackson referred to social justice slogans the NBA allowed players to wear on the backs of their uniforms in 2020. The slogans included “Black Lives Matter,” “Freedom,” “Justice,” “Enough,” and “Power to the People,” among others.
“They even had slogans on the floor, on the baseline,” Jackson said. He added, “I made a little funny thing like, ‘Justice just went to the basket and Equal Opportunity just knocked him down.’ . . . So, my grandkids thought that was pretty funny to play up those names. So, I couldn’t watch that.”
Jackson said he didn’t see how these gestures made an impact and commented on how past athletes kept their political views to themselves. “Bill Bradley was a senator, a number of baseball players have been representatives and senators. . .But their politics stay out of the game. It doesn’t need to be there.”
Jackson, 77, played in the NBA for twelve seasons and coached for 20. He retired from coaching in 2011.