On Wednesday night, LeBron James and the Cavaliers crushed the Raptors 125-103 to take a commanding 2-0 lead over Toronto in their best-of-7 playoff series. And after the game, LeBron spent plenty of time talking about basketball during his post-game press conference. But at one point, he was also asked to talk about what happened to Orioles star Adam Jones in Boston on Monday night when he was subjected to racism during a game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
LeBron, who typically stays off social media during the NBA postseason, admitted that he hasn’t been able to monitor the Jones situation closely. But he said that he was able to catch part of the Orioles/Red Sox game on Tuesday night and saw the fans at Fenway giving Jones a standing ovation. He also spoke at length about the racism that Jones faced and said that, while he doesn’t remember experiencing racism in Boston at any point in his career, he obviously knows and understands that racism is still a big problem in America.
You can watch LeBron speak on Jones and racism as a whole here:
You can also read a transcript of LeBron’s comments below:
It’s a delicate situation. Racism, we know, exists. You try not to put yourself in a position, for me as a father, I try to give my kids the blueprint on how life is going to be. But at the end of the day, I can only tell them so much and then they have to go out and live it themselves. For me, I just try to be respectful, for one, be respectful to others. And I feel like if you do that consistently, then I believe the karma will come back to you.
LeBron hit the nail on the head at the end of his explanation. While his words obviously aren’t going to solve the problem at hand, the fact that he’s being asked questions about it after a big playoff win is important and a sign that there are real conversations taking place about racism because of what Jones went through this week. And that might just be the silver lining in this whole situation.
