How the Nuggets, NBA plan to keep the conversation "where it needs to be" at Disney World

While confined to the Disney World bubble in Orlando, Florida for the next several weeks, and maybe months, Michael Malone and his fellow coaches plan to moonlight as educators.

Each one of the 22 NBA head coaches traveling to Disney World next week will dedicate a Zoom call to discussing a particular racial injustice that occurred throughout the history of the United States. Specifically, coaches will discuss the racial injustice that occurred on the day that they’re speaking while using the Equal Justice Initiative’s, A History of Racial Injustice calendar, as a guide.

It’s a part of the Nuggets and NBA’s pledge to not let the dialogue around racial injustice in the United States die down over the next several months as basketball returns.

“The games will begin but we’re going to keep the message and conversation where it needs to be,” Malone said Wednesday while speaking with the media via Zoom. “There’s a really important emphasis that we’re placing and that’s on education and educating people on all the racial injustices throughout history.”

The idea to turn Zoom sessions into educational seminars led by NBA coaches was hatched during the weekly calls that the league’s 30 head coaches have been participating in over the last several weeks. Led by Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce, head coaches throughout the league have been discussing how they can unite their team with their respective communities and align themselves with the goals of their local grassroots organizations as the NBA returns.

The NBA and the Coaches Association have also come together to form the NBA Coaches for Racial Justice, and on a national level have partnered with the Obama Foundation and the Equal Justice Initiative. Bryan Stevenson, the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, is teaming with coaches to help them craft what they want to say while at Disney World.

“It’s through education. It’s through looking back at history,” Malone said. “To understand it I think that will allow us to move ahead and create solutions to all the injustices that occurred throughout these many, many years.”

The Nuggets want to keep that dialogue going within their organization as well. As a team, the Nuggets held a town hall meeting with Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and Denver’s police chief, and are discussing internally what they can do once in Orlando to continue fighting against racial injustice.

The NBA and National Basketball Players Association are reportedly planning to paint “Black Lives Matter” on the court in all three arenas the league will use at the Disney World, but there’s a clear sentiment throughout the NBA that much more needs to be done.

Malone shares that belief and from his comments Wednesday it was clear that he has a lot more on his mind than just basketball even though he’ll conduct his first practice in over three months sometime next week at Disney World.

Denver’s coach said that while select players throughout the league have opted out of the Disney bubble for personal reasons, he expects his full roster — including Nikola Jokic — to travel to Orlando. Jokic has not yet returned to Denver after testing positive for coronavirus over a week ago in Serbia but Malone said the Nuggets’ All-NBA center “feels great” and should be on the flight to Orlando with his teammates on July 7.

As the fight against racial injustice throughout the United States furthers and the coronavirus pandemic intensifies, the Nuggets and the other 21 teams who will be inside the Disney World bubble are entering uncharted waters.

There’s no playbook for Denver to follow once the Nuggets touch down. Malone and his staff can’t open their Rolodexes and phone a fellow coach to pick their brain about how they kept their team engaged while inside of a bubble for months on end. The Nuggets, along with the league, will be learning as they go while trying to balance the social responsibility they’re wanting to take on and off the court.

“I’m not worried about what practice one is going to look like,” Malone said. “I’m more worried about how can I keep our group together? How can we unite and come back and create that chemistry? How can I keep a very positive, fun atmosphere because this will be a challenge for all of us.”

Overall, Malone said he remains “pretty confident” in the NBA’s bubble plan but his biggest concern is the fact that Disney employees who will enter and exit the bubble daily won’t be under the same strict coronavirus testing protocols that NBA teams will.

Balancing those worries with the NBA’s goal of “taking collective action to combat systemic racism and promote social justice,” which the league outlined last week, while pursuing an NBA championship is a monumental task.

The Nuggets sound like they’re up to it.

“I think we can play basketball in a safe environment, hopefully, while also making sure we keep the conversation where it needs to be. That’s the biggest thing we emphasize,” Malone said. “We’re trying to fight for lasting and sustainable change and we can’t allow the games getting back again to take the light off the message and what’s going on. Because this is the moment. This is unlike all the other years. We have to carry this through.”