Wednesday’s events in Washington D.C. took an emotional toll on people across the United States, including members of the NBA community.
Luckily, the Washington Wizards were out of town to play the 76ers in Philadelphia. But they’ll be back in the nation’s capital Saturday to host the Miami Heat at Capital One Arena.
Bam Adebayo isn’t exactly looking forward to the trip. But it has nothing to do with the game itself.
Wednesday’s events, naturally, didn’t sit right with Adebayo. In fact, he doesn’t plan to go very far once he gets to the team hotel.
“I’m not leaving my room,” Adebayo told reporters during his video press conference following the Heat’s loss to the Boston Celtics, via Five Reasons Sports Network. “After seeing something like that? I’m not leaving my room. I’m an African-American man. You know? I’ve got to live with that. I’ve got to be cautious everywhere I go. You never know who’s going to decide to be the person to be like, ‘Imma ruin his life today,’ or ‘Imma take something away from him that he really loves.’
“So like I said, being an African-American man in this world, you can tell there’s two Americas we’re living in, you know? And they don’t want us to be equal. We’re going to keep fighting that. I still wear my shirts, it is not going to change. But we’re looking for change and equality, man. We’re not asking for anything else. We just want to be treated like people. They’re treating us like we’re nothing.”
The Celtics and Heat made their voices hear before Wednesday’s game by walking off the court in unison and releasing a joint statement about the events that occurred in Washington D.C.
