More people might have felt that way: Landry Shamet explains what led to LA Clippers and LA Lakers voting against NBA resumption
It's been an unprecedented last 48 hours in the NBA that started with Milwaukee Bucks deciding to boycott their tie against the Orlando Magic. What followed was a suspension of all playoff games for two days and several meetings. The biggest headline coming out of the first players' meeting was that the LA Lakers and the LA Clippers had walked out after voting to end the season.
LA Clippers' Landry Shamet made an appearance on JJ Redick's The Old Man and the Three podcast to give an insider's view on the same.
LA Lakers and LA Clippers walk out of the meeting
Landry Shamet started off by explaining that with so many players in the same room, there was always going to several perspectives in play. He then spoke about the 'vote' that the LA Lakers and LA Clippers gave to stop playing before exiting the meeting. He also outlined that the setting may not have allowed some players to speak as freely. [H/T: Clipsnation]
"And to be fair, that vote wasn’t us saying we don’t want to play basketball. It was just simply a poll of what we thought was best to do, and that’s what came out of our team. And to be honest, I felt like and still feel like maybe there’s more people that kind of might have felt that way. But given the setting and the amount of peers around, you might not have been as blunt and open.”
Shamet then admitted that he didn't feel too confident about the whole ordeal and wasn't too sure whether it would lead to anything productive.
Also read: Patrick Beverley the major disruptor in players-only meet, as LeBron James and LA Lakers dominate the 24 hours after the NBA boycott
Landry Shamet annoyed about the pressure falling on the black athletes
Landry Shamet acknowledged that the incident brought a lot of attention to the NBA, especially to the LA Clippers and the LA Lakers after the players' meeting. But he was also frustrated at the fact that all the questions were being posed to the players and not the senior executives.
"Why are we answering questions that a lot of CEOs and executives and higher up people aren’t even getting asked? Why is it all falling on us, the Black athlete?”
As of now, everyone's interested in understanding the possible endgame of the whole situation and there isn't a clear update regarding that yet.
Also read: Every NBA owner wasn't enthusiastic about having Black Lives Matter on the courts