Getty Los Angeles Lakers guard JR. Smith.
ESPN NBA analyst Jay Williams let it be known that NBA players need to stop complaining about the living conditions at the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
We all have the right to complain but doing it publicly is different issue. I don’t need some of my #NBA brothers complaining publicly about quality of living & food accomodations in a billion dollar bubble during a pandemic. Tell me your thoughts.
“NBA players cannot be tone-deaf,” Williams said in a video posted to Twitter.
“My NBA brothers, you cannot be tone-deaf right now in this current environment,” Williams said.
“We all know the life that NBA players live, you are blessed, get a chance to be on planes, get a chance to have millions of dollars in your bank account, you live a different level of life. But that is drastically different than what real everyday working Americans are going through right now.
The coronavirus pandemic halted NBA basketball play on March 11 and the NBA will resume play on July 30 at Disney.
22 NBA Teams will compete to fill the league’s 16-NBA Playoff spots in both the NBA’s Eastern and Western Conferences with the NBA Finals slated to finish no later than October 13.
Players like the Los Angeles Lakers’ JR Smith and Rajon Rondo and the Philadelphia 76ers‘ Joel Embiid have complained about the bubble’s food and more.
“I’m not a big fan of the idea,” Joel Embiid said earlier this week.
“But then again I’m going to do my job and won’t let the city down. I’m going to go represent my city, and that’s what I’ve always done. My family and my teammates. The mindset doesn’t change. It doesn’t matter, the fact that I don’t like the idea and still don’t believe in it and I don’t think it’s gonna be safe. I know I’m going to do the right things. I don’t ever do anything, I only play video games. I’m always home. I don’t trust those other guys to do the same, but like I said, I gotta do my job.”
Jay Williams believes that players should keep their thoughts positive because despite their inconveniece they’re still living better than many Americans right now.
“You’re in a billion-dollar bubble,” said Williams.
“If you want to complain about the anxieties you have from COVID-related issues, I get it, complain about that. We all have the right to complain about that. But when I hear NBA guys complaining about living facilities, food that they have being delivered to them, it is tone deaf. It is tone deaf. I want you to think about people who are everyday working people who are making minimum wage trying make ends meet, that are going to factories, that are going to really harsh working environments.”
“So when I see guys that are going into a billion-dollar bubble, a billion-dollar bubble, and are getting food delivered to them, that have beds to sleep in – you can’t complain about that,” Williams said. “Not while you’re making millions of dollars, not while your employer is going through drastic measures to protect you while they’re still paying you. When that’s not the case for everyday real working Americans. That bothers me. That bothers me.”