(photo: Minnesota Lynx players Lindsay Whalen, Maya Moore, Rebekkah Brunson and Seimone Augustus don ‘Black Lives Matter’ shirts at a press conference.)

In response to North Carolina’s discriminatory HB-2 ‘bathroom bill,’ NBA Commissioner Adam Silver stood up for LGBTQ rights and pulled the 2017 All-Star game from Charlotte. Yet in the very same week, Silver and WNBA President Lisa Borders levied fines on female players who donned black t-shirts in pregame warmups to support the Black Lives Matter movement. To understand this tricky political moment, we have Howard Bryant, a friend of the show, author, commentator and columnist for ESPN. Then, in ’Choice Words’ we have a column about this new era of player power in basketball, and the ‘Just Stand Up’ award goes to WNBA players Tina Charles, Tanisha Wright and Swin Cash for standing up and speaking out.

Howard Bryant twitter: http://twitter.com/hbryant42
Zirin Column: The NBA Moves the All-Star Game, but Also Punishes Players for Political T-shirts?: http://bit.ly/2ajI699
The Olympics and the Battle for Rio’s Future: http://bit.ly/1WsiXdK
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