Anna good morning. Im anna palmer, coauthor of the politico playbook and i am joined by jake sherman. Welcome to a special edition of the playbook interview. Joining us now is the Senior Vice President of the Milwaukee Bucks. He has previously worked in Democratic Politics and his family owns the bucks. Jake for a connecticut kid like me, vin baker is a legend. He went to the university of hartford and had a 13year career in the nba, mostly with the bucks and seattle supersonics. Allstar,ur time nba olympic Gold Medalist and is currently an assistant coach with the bucks. We have a little news. This makes it a very timely conversation. The president of United States moments ago tweeted, people are tired of watching the highly political nba. Basketball ratings are way down and wont be coming back. I know football and baseball are watching and learning because the same thing will be happening to them. Stand tall for our country and flag. That is the backdrop with which we have this conversation. You can join with tweeting questions politico. We will get started right now. When jacob blake was killed, the Milwaukee Bucks decided to protest and what really set the stage. For a largescale protest across sports. Take us inside the locker room and tell us how the players reacted and what the conversation was like among the players that you coach and that you are so close to. Vin the conversation was obviously highly emotional. It didnt just start in the locker room, it actually started, i got a call from george hill that morning of the game. We met for breakfast prior to going over to the arena. It was highly emotional, as you can probably imagine. The compassion that he expressed to me in talking to me about what had happened. He had talked to me after his teammates and the rest of the Coaching Staff. It was obviously impromptu. Once we got into the locker room, guys were trying to prepare for the game, but the emotions of what had happened in wisconsin, our backyard and home state, was really overwhelming. The conversations started to happen amongst the players and then amongst the staff. The compassion was so high and the emotions were so high, and we just decided to make the decision that the best move for us was to stay in the locker room and use our platform to bring attention to what had happened in wisconsin, and certainly all across our country with the injustices that have happened. That is how the conversation went. It wasnt an easy decision for us as a team. Certainly, our human compassion and what we felt for our state in what had happened in kenosha was overwhelming. We decided to make that decision to not play that game. Jake alex, talk to me a little bit about how the management reacted. What were the conversations with the league like . Alex for us, it was full support. It was something that we didnt know was happening. It was pretty impromptu. Once we saw what was going on, it was full support. This happened in our backyard. It was highly emotional. You can tell there was also this feeling of, what if i was at home with my family . I cannot imagine what that would be like, and how scary and unsettling would that be . As george said, there was just a lot of people fed up and tired of the injustices going on and trying to figure out, what can i do and how can i shine a light and make a difference. For us, we have always been fully supportive of our guys. We felt this before. It is what happened with sterling brown in milwaukee. This is something we have tried to really take it seriously and help create meaningful change. For us, it is about supporting our players and letting them know we are always behind them. Anna the nba is in a unique position. It is a mostly black league with mostly white ownership. Take us through the dynamics that presents in situations like this. Alex the way i kind of look at it is, there is right and wrong. These injustices that are happening around the country, it just falls on the side of wrong. For us as ownership, and for the players, i think it is just about creating meaningful change and helping to right some of these wrongs. From my dad all the way down the organization, it has been nothing but support. For how the league has handled this, and i think you have seen the nba league take steps others havent. And putting black lives matter on the court. That is something that is hard to see from the bubble how impactful that is outside the bubble. Kind of normalizing and making mainstream, black lives matter. Putting the things on the back of your jerseys instead of your name, and also at every press conference mentioning what is going on. I dont think anyone realizes, and i think it is hard from in the bubble to see how impactful that is and how big that is for inspiring people around the country. Jake if you could help us understand the position that we couldnt even begin to understand, you are and you have been in this position, so now, you are a mentor to a lot of these players. A lot of these guys are young men who obviously are incredibly talented and have come into immense wealth. They feel incumbent upon themselves and are in a position to make these very bold political statements, and have the platform to make the statements at a relatively young age. I wonder if you could help us understand that and help us understand the dynamic that presents for somebody who is just kind of making their way in the world. It is tough for anybody to understand just the immense platform and responsibility that comes along with that. Vin i think sports, and certainly our organization, puts us in a unique situation. We talk about the locker rooms. It puts us in a situation where we have all of these guys working for one common goal from different, diverse backgrounds. The level of what we do professionally and how successful we are at it comes with a level of not just talent, but a level of care. You have to care for the people in the locker room, care for the Coaching Staff, the entire organization. That level of care doesnt stop or begin with wins and losses. When we made the decision as a team and organization, the political ramifications we were going to be concerned with after. We had to talk to the people we needed to talk to and educate ourselves after. The decision came from humanity and compassion for humanity. The level of care the bucks have in the locker room from Coaching Staff to players, again from different backgrounds, it was overwhelming. The decision, in some ways, was easy. It was like we make this decision from our hearts and educate ourselves throughout our organization, ownership and the higherups to help us find resources and the people we need to speak to that can have impact on the decision that we decided to make. It all started from compassion and the level of care, which i think everybody should have. That is where it started for us. We have obviously brought attention with our platform, and now, we hope to continue to educate ourselves and continue to move the needle that everyone will have this compassion throughout the world and throughout our country and certainly in milwaukee and wisconsin. Jake i want to get you to react to this. Jared kushner was on a similar interview with us last week and said, it is nice that the nba players can do this because they can afford to take the night off. I wonder what your reaction is to that. Vin obviously, i think there is a level of there is no sensitivity there. I dont agree with the comment. There is a level of ignorance there. This wasnt about as affording to be able to take the night off. This is about as seeing an egregious act, yet another egregious act in our country and in our own backyard. It hit us in a place where it should hit everyone. Not just the Milwaukee Bucks, our players and staff an organization, but everyone should have been angry about what we saw. It was a basketball game and we decided to not play a basketball game. This had nothing to do with financial ramifications or what we were thinking about, not even what was at stake. This is the nba playoffs. We obviously have a level of care about what we are doing here in orlando, and we want to be successful. It wasnt an easy decision for us at all. It came from the heart, compassion for our fellow brothers and fellow family. I would say we would do it again if we had the opportunity and if that situation came again. And hopefully, it doesnt. Hopefully, we made a statement and we can get changes from what we did, the act that we did. I hope that we find ourselves on the right side of history. Anna jared told us he planned on speaking to lebron. Have you had any interaction with this white house in terms of the black lives matter and what the league is doing with it and maybe what the leadership from the white house needs to be doing. Is there any coordination or discussion happening . Alex from my knowledge, the white house has not reached out to us. I think kushners comments are a little ironic coming from him. As has been said, this wasnt anyone taking a night off and then just going back to their hotel room being like, i just didnt want to play today. This was a statement. This was an act to say, hey, enough is enough, and if you guys are not going to take this seriously, we are going to have to do something to bring this to the forefront again and hopefully force people to act. I think you saw that in calling out the Wisconsin Legislature that hasnt done anything in four months. We are in the middle of a pandemic and a Civil Rights Movement going on, and our legislature hasnt done anything for four months. They gaveled in yesterday and dont do anything. I think the session lasted 30 seconds. I think that was what the team was trying to highlight, show and say. I think we can see how powerful it is because the president decided to tweet about it, and the white house is commenting on it. Clearly, we got some peoples attention. Jake coach, i grew up watching you and your generation. My sense, and you can tell me if im wrong, but it seemed there was a lot less political activism through the 1990s and early 2000s. Michael jordan famously did not get involved. It was chronicled in a hotly contested senate race in North Carolina that he has recently talk about. I wonder if it is your sense as well that when you were a player, players were less likely to take stands, or is that not the right impression i have . Vin i dont necessarily think that was the issue with players in my generation. I know there were players who were active with social injustices. I think what has kind of livened the conversation and certainly the energy and reaction is, in my generation it wasnt being caught on camera. Now, most of these acts and a lot of these acts are being filmed. The emotions and reactions are raw and live and quick. I dont want to knock my generation for not being involved. I dont know about michael and what he does and does not do. I know when you watch someone die on camera or you watch someone being beaten or shot on camera, the reactions are much different than what they would have been in my generation. I commend our young players. Again, it was a very brave act. It just shows the level of character and compassion these young men have. This will outlast what they did last week will outlast a basketball career. That is the difference, to me, between my generation and now, these young men are actually seeing these egregious acts happening on camera. It is not just them who should react, it should be the entire world and country, the core of humanity, your spirit and soul to say this is wrong and i should do something about it. Anna can you talk a little bit about, obviously, this was a big moment. The nba and the league and the team are doing more around this election, it seems to me, than maybe past elections. There is agreement about using facilities to get out the vote. Can you talk a little bit about that . Alex i think what everyone has kind of seen as voting is something we cant be taking for granted. We have tried to make sure our team is 100 registered to vote. What we offered and partnered with more than a vote to get our arena used as an early voting facility. We will be an early vote facility in wisconsin. The league has committed and all of the owners have said we would like every arena to be a voting site. If not, then used to help people register to vote or some other way to be engaged. I think what you are seeing is the league and the players trying to come together and flex their voice and say hey, what is going on is not ok. I think what you are also going to see from them is, just realizing just speaking out is not enough. We have to do something. The best way to have your voice heard is through voting. I think our guys are realizing that and that is why it has become such a central tenant tenet around the league. Jake this may be an offthewall question, but i wonder if you guys have put any thought into what more there are these protests, which have been extraordinarily powerful, and what the nba has done with giving a voice to black lives matter and allowing the arena to be adorned with kind of those symbolisms. Lebron is doing his vote organization. Is there any thought for a more robust political operation for athletes . These are obviously quite wealthy people, many of them, who have been active at times in politics. I wonder if there is any thought that you guys here, either coach or alex, if there is any thought how to operationalize this a little bit more to allow athletes to have a Political Organization where their beliefs and views can be channeled into action . Vin i will just say from our end, the guys are just sorting through all of these conversations, sorting through the opportunities and some of the things that will be made available to them through our organization, through alex, through the league. We are only probably a little less than a week of this happening. Guys are educating themselves every single day. In the process, playing here and for a championship. We are educating ourselves every day. The emotions are real. Guys are taking those raw emotions and that moment they had a few days ago, and now they are educating themselves to see how and what is the best avenue to continue the statement. We dont want to start by just boycotting a basketball game. This is an issue that has been in our country for hundreds of years. It is going to take time, more education, our guys to get involved and really put 10 toes down and understand what we are talking about and what are the changes that we need. We feel like we have the platform, we have the voices and we certainly have the compassion to do it, and our organization is going to back us. We will be there moving forward. Alex i dont know if it is necessarily a fully operational Political Organization. I think what you will see is Issue Advocacy. I dont think it is something that we hope is part of it. It is something i think we hope is, lets get behind criminal justice reform. Lets get behind racial and social justice. How can i fix some of the systemic issues that are not only in wisconsin, but happening around the country . I dont think it is necessarily i think individual players can assert their right to be as active with which party or candidate that they want. I think organizationally and league wise what youre going to see and what you have seen so far is it is going to be more Issue Advocacy and more getting involved in issues of racial and social justice. Doc rivers said it best. He wants to just be able to be a coach. He would love to just be able to be a coach, but unfortunately, the people whose jobs it is to help solve a lot of these problems are not doing it. I think there is a feeling of a little bit more of a responsibility for our guys who have this big platform to shine a light on it and try to put some pressure on people to get some stuff done. Anna we are quickly running out of time, but our audience is clearly a lot of washington insiders, the white house, congress, a lot of the people that could potentially do something. Is there any ask you have that government should be doing, needs to be doing in the wake of these awful killings and the need that you guys have seen to stand up and try to really shine a light on this . Alex first off, i would say passing the george floyd bill would be a good start. I think having a president not inflaming tensions and pouring more gas on the fire, and someone who would actually be a calming and uniting force. It would be great to have people who understand, hey, there is a problem here and what can we do to fix it . I think that is something that that is what the players and i think everyone around the league is calling for. Hey, can we see some sort of action . We dont need any more taskforces or commissions or anything on these issues. The policies and solutions are out there. There are bills out there that are waiting to be passed and debated. As i said, kushner hits our guys for boycotting one game, and the people in washington are not really showing up for work for any of their days. Imagine how that would be if the nba just decided not to show up to work. I think that, to me, is what everyone is calling for. There is a problem here. It would be great if guys would get together and do your jobs. That is what you were elected for. If not, our guys are going to speak out. As citizens, they have every right to do so. Jake one quick question about the election before we go. Is there palpable excitement in the league about joe bidens candidacy . Alex i think so. Im not going to presume to talk about who players are thinking about voting for. I havent really spoken to anyone about individual candidates or anything like that. I will let them make those decisions on who they are going to vote for. I think what they care about is who is going to act on these issues . To me, it is pretty obvious, but i think, again, youre going to see them putting pressure on everyone to say, if you plan on running for office and you want to be an elected official, whether in wisconsin or nationwide, these are issues that are important and that you need to have as a priority if you want our support or anything of that nature. Jake coach, any parting thoughts for us . Vin thanks for having us on and on behalf of our staff and the players, we want people to have the same level of compassion that we demonstrated earlier in the week. I know the guys want that. We want change for our country, change for our youth. We want to represent the blake family, the taylor family, and we want justice for those families. We want people to just have a level of compassion. It starts with compassion. It starts with educating ourselves. Of course, it starts with voting as well. I implore everyone to educate themselves on the issues, all parties involved, and vote responsibly. Anna thank you to both alex and vin for joining us this morning for an important conversation. Thanks to all of you for tuning into the latest playbook interview. We will be back in a few weeks with our next one. Stay tuned on details for that. Stay safe and healthy, and have a great day. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] cspans washington journal. We will discuss policy issues that impact you. Wednesday morning, New York Times economics reporter discusses his book about the growth of the middle class in the u. S. Josh rudolph, with the alliance for securing democracy, talks about foreign interference in campaign 2020. Watch washington journal, wednesday morning, be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts and tweets. Wednesday, worsening kevin brady talk about the u. S. Mexicocanada trade agreement at an event hosted by rice universitys baker institute. Beginning at noon eastern on cspan, online as cspan. Org or listen free on the cspan radio app. Next, the cochairs of the commission on president ial debates discuss the historical significance of the president ial debates. Topics include thirdparty candidates, the influence of social media, the debate process, and the criteria for selecting a moderator. The National Press club hosted this hourlong event. Welcome to the National Press club, the worlds leading professional organization or journalists. The 113th freeman, National President of the press club. On the formal general manager of the cbs network, and journalist at the maryland global campus, and executive producer of the broadcasting series moderated by journalists. We thank you for joining our headliner event with the three cochairs of the commission on president ial debates. This marks their