Kobe Bryant and Teammates Wear 'I Can't Breathe' Shirts Before Lakers-Kings
Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers teammates are the newest on a growing list of professional athletes to warm up in "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts, donning them prior to their home tilt with the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday.
The team's official Twitter feed provided a snapshot:
The shirts quote the last words of Eric Garner, who died after New York officer Daniel Pantaleo applied a chokehold. A Staten Island grand jury recently chose not to indict the officer, sparking protests across the country.
Showing support for Garner, his family and the protests, Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose donned the shirt before Saturday's game against the Golden State Warriors. On Monday, the Brooklyn Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers also wore the shirts, per Chris Haynes of the Northeast Ohio Media Group and Michael Lee of The Washington Post:
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver recently told Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, "I respect Derrick Rose and all of our players for voicing their personal views on important issues but my preference would be for players to abide by our on-court attire rules."
It doesn't appear that Silver's stance is stopping the NBA's stars from showing their support.
