Basketball isn't everything.

And if the money was to go tomorrow, if the fame was to go tomorrow, who are you then?

And I had many times of being a rookie in the NBA doing what I thought I needed to do and

having fun and then looking myself in the mirror and saying, who are you?

As the world figured out how to navigate COVID in 2020, the NBA invested $190 million into what was called the NBA bubble.

After halting all games for months, the season resumed from July to November.

The teams played their games behind closed doors in empty stadiums and lived on-site in the surrounding hotels.

This NBA season from the bubble was built at the early stages of COVID and thus was

met with mixed reactions. Then, following the death of George Floyd, the politics intensified.

Players, coaches, and staff throughout the league donned shirts with the words Black Lives Matter

and knelt during the game opening national anthem performances as a form of protest.

Our guest today entered the national spotlight when he decided to not do any of that.

On July 31st, 2020, a viral moment happened when Jonathan Isaac was the one and only player

on his team, not dressed in a BLMT, and standing up for the anthem.

Following the game, Jonathan told the press,

I feel like putting a shirt on and kneeling one-handed hand with supporting black

blanche with that.

This moment made Jonathan the first player who refused to kneel for the anthem during

this period of time.

As we'll discuss in our episode, all the while, his contract was in the works.

His career was at stake.

A little over a year later, he would buck the league again

...