"I cried afterwards" - Jonathan Isaac opens up on emotional aftermath of not kneeling for National Anthem at the height of Black Lives Matter
Orlando Magic forward Jonathan Isaac's decision to not kneel in the NBA Bubble was a major talking point several years ago. He has now spoken out about the situation he faced as a result of his decision.
When the NBA resumed the 2019-20 season with the NBA Bubble during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter movement was at its peak, following the death of George Floyd. Along with players and the league adding social justice messages to courts, many teams and players knelt during the national anthem.
The silent protest, done to mimic the one former NFL player Colin Kaepernick and US Green Beret Nate Boyer came up with in 2016, was done by several NBA teams. While Orlando Magic players knelt, Jonathan Isaac remained standing.
The decision caught the attention of fans around the league, many of whom criticized Isaac's decision to stand. On an episode of the "Family Goals Podcast" on Thursday, the Orlando forward reflected on a team meeting the Magic had after he refused to kneel:
"We had another team meeting, and they're like, 'Hey, you're hijacking the movement. You're making this all about you.' And I just tried my best to let them know, my heart, like that wasn't my intention. I'm trying to do what I feel is right for myself. And you know, I was so messed up about it, I cried afterwards.
"I called my pastor afterwards and was like, 'Hey, this is the situation.' I'm crying on the phone. And he's like, 'Look, man, you respected their decision to kneel. They got to respect your decision to stand.'" (1:30 onwards)
"Fellas, I'm not going to kneel" - Jonathan Isaac reflects on telling teammates that he wasn't going to kneel
Before Jonathan Isaac decided to stand for the National Anthem, the Orlando Magic held a team meeting. Because the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz had both kneeled in the first game in the NBA Bubble, the Magic felt like they had to follow suit.
During his appearance on the "Family Goals" podcast, Isaac recalled the meeting, and the moment when he told his teammates that he wouldn't be kneeling with them.
"We get into the team meeting and they're like, ‘Hey, we don't have a choice here. Everybody's just going to kneel. We're going to go with it.’ Just because the team had already knelt before us, so if we decided not to kneel, it would look like we weren't a part of what was going on.
"And so they were like, ‘Look, there's no conversation here.’ One of my teammates turned towards me, of all people, I'm like, why is he turning towards me? He says, ‘Yo, Jonathan, what are you going to do?’ And I was like, ‘Fellas, I'm not going to kneel and I'm not going to wear the T-shirt.'"
As he went on to say, he didn't feel comfortable kneeling despite agreeing with the sentiment that Black lives do matter. The way he saw things at the time, kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter shirt wasn't going to do anything to create meaningful change.