Nuggets' Will Barton Concerned with NBA Restart amid Unrest, Seeks 'Revolution'

Denver Nuggets guard Will Barton is among the NBA players who are concerned the league will not do enough for social change in its planned Orlando return.  

"I don't see us going down there and wearing George Floyd T-shirts before the games and then after a game, being interviewed, saying we need to change," Barton told Mike Singer of the Denver Post. "I'll tell you right now, I don't really see that helping. I feel like it's too late in the ballgame. We've been going through this for 400-plus years now. I feel like the only way for real change is going to come is a revolution."

Barton expressed his frustration over the lack of progress against racism and police brutality against Black people at several points in his interview with Singer, noting a desperate need for change. He said he agreed with concerns expressed by Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, who gathered around 80 players on a conference call earlier this month to push back on the NBA's planned return.

"If the things that are true that came out about what he said about trying to organize the players and question what are we doing down there, how things are going to be done, and if we should actually go, I agree with him," Barton said. "At the end of the day, with so much stuff going on in the world right now with a pandemic, racism, I feel like you have to question those things and challenge those things. I don't think he did nothing wrong."

Irving reportedly highlighted the potential distraction from the fight to end systemic racism in the wake of nationwide protests after George Floyd's killing as his overarching concern. 

"I don't support going into Orlando," Irving said on the call, per Shams Charania of The Athletic "I'm not with the systematic racism and the bullshit. ... Something smells a little fishy. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are targeted as black men every day we wake up." 

Barton said he believes basketball may help push social justice causes out of the national spotlight. The NBA and NBPA have said they plan to emphasize social justice upon the season's return, but Barton believes the fight for racial injustice may "fly under the radar" when people have a distraction.

Barton did not indicate whether he plans on sitting out but was steadfast that a "revolution" is needed to create real change in the United States.