As a role player, Denver Nuggets forward Jerami Grant doesn’t make a lot of headlines. But after dedicating an entire press conference to discussing the death of Breonna Taylor, he’s doing exactly that for all the right reasons.
ESPN and the Denver Post report that after practice on Wednesday, Grant fielded a number of questions from reporters. But no matter what they asked, the 26-year-old made it a point to direct the conversation toward justice for Taylor.
On how he has been spending his free time in the NBA bubble:
“It’s great to be here with my teammates, great to be back playing basketball but for me personally, and I think a lot of players, it’s imperative that we focus on what is really important in the world. One thing for me is Breonna Taylor’s killers are still roaming around free, so I want to focus on that with these interviews and things like that. I want to keep the focus there.”
On teammate Nikola Jokic finally joining the team after being diagnosed with COVID-19 in June:
“Like I said, it’s great to have my teammates here, it’s great to be here playing basketball, but at the same time, I want to keep the focus on what’s really important. Breonna Taylor’s murderers still are roaming around free.”
Question after question, Grant kept that same energy throughout the entire interview.
“[There’s] a lot going on in the world right now with police brutality and racism and things like that, and I want to keep the focus on that,” he said. “It’s tough times. It has been this way for a long time. Basketball is something I love and something everybody loves, but at the same time we got to focus on what is important.”
When Nuggets coach Mike Malone got wind of what happened during Grant’s interview, he had nothing but praise for the Syracuse product.
“I respect Jerami doing that,” he said. “It’s a big point of emphasis from the league, from the coaches, the NBPA, coming down here. Making sure that we continue the conversation and keeping the spotlight where it needs to be. For Jerami to dedicate his press conference to the memory of the life of Breonna Taylor is outstanding, so I applaud him for that.”
I couldn’t agree more.
If social justice is as important to NBA players as they’ve proclaimed it to be, let’s hope this is just the beginning of the league’s commitment to being catalysts for change.