Boston Celtics vet Jrue Holiday among finalists for 2025 NBA Social Justice Champion award
Holiday joins vet guard CJ McCollum of the New Orleans Pelicans, big man Chris Boucher of the Toronto Raptors, veteran forward Harrison Barnes of the San Antonio Spurs, and Miami Heat big man Bam Adebayo as the finalists in the running to win this honor. Per the league, the winner gets the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar trophy, and it "recognizes a current NBA player for pursuing social justice and advancing Abdul-Jabbar's life mission to engage, empower and drive equality for individuals and groups who have been historically disadvantaged."
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The winner will be revealed during the 2025 NBA Playoffs, and receive $100,000 from the NBA to go to a social justice-focused organization of their choice.
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS - OCTOBER 27: Jrue Holiday #4 of the Boston Celtics reaches for a rebound over Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat during the first quarter at TD Garden on October 27, 2023 in Boston, Massachusetts. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by)
Prior winners of the award include Carmelo Anthony, Reggie Bullock, Stephen Curry and (last year), Karl Anthony-Towns.
This article originally appeared on Celtics Wire: Jrue Holiday among finalists for '25 NBA Social Justice Champion award
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Best of Derrick White with the Boston Celtics in 2024-25
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New York Times
26 minutes ago
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The NBA bubble, 5 years later: ‘The most exclusive basketball camp in world history'
It's been more than five years since the first people arrived at Disney World for the NBA bubble. Wednesday marks the anniversary of the first games played there, and the Los Angeles Lakers were crowned champions at the iconic amusement park in October 2020. To mark the occasion, I reached out to a few of the players, coaches, NBA executives and journalists who lived the experience as I did. These are our stories. Whether it was LeBron James, the world's most famous basketball player, or Malinda Adams, super producer for ESPN who does her work behind the camera, for the most part, the rules and conditions were the same. There were differences, of course, but we all were subjected to the same COVID-19 testing and safety protocols and had to stay inside the walls at Disney. Advertisement Adam Silver, NBA commissioner: I am proud of how the entire NBA community came together to pull off something that had never been done before. Looking back at the bubble — a name I resisted at the time — I marvel once again at sports' unique ability to galvanize people and inspire creativity and innovation, especially during challenging times. Mike Breen, play-by-play, ESPN and ABC: The league had their job to do, the media, the players, the coaches, and the referees, too, but there was a bond there that, 'Hey, listen, this is a difficult time. This is not the norm. We're all in uncharted waters, but we're all in it together.' Jordi Fernández, assistant coach, Denver Nuggets (now head coach, Brooklyn Nets): Going into the bubble, at least you felt like you were entertaining people. You were the only live show in the world. Ben Golliver, journalist, Washington Post (and author of 'Bubble Ball,' a book about our time at Disney): Adam Silver's 'collaborative' approach to being commissioner really paid dividends in 2020, and the bubble should be remembered as one of the signature moments of his tenure. Without a strong working relationship between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association, the bubble could have popped before it got off the ground or as soon as the players came to terms with being physically trapped in Disney World. Billions of dollars were at stake, and the two sides pulled off the endeavor despite many complications. Kyle Goon, journalist, Orange County Register (now columnist for the Baltimore Banner): It's strange that we created a metaphorical safety net so people could play basketball. But it also was one of the last times I remember when people universally respected COVID as a vital threat. Sam Amick, journalist, The Athletic: Once I got past that first week of quarantine, which included a near-ejection for breaking COVID protocols (drinking wine with front-office executives outside of our respective rooms was a no-no), it was honestly a whole lot of fun. We got to watch high-level NBA playoff action up close with a few dozen other media members every night, then type our tales while working at the lakeside office inside the resort where we stayed. Rest, rinse and repeat — with a whole lot of pickleball played with the NBA officials in between. Advertisement Tim Reynolds, journalist, The Associated Press: If you survived the bubble, you proved your mettle. It was three months away at the most exclusive basketball camp in world history. All we did in there was watch, talk, think, eat, drink and sleep ball. No family, just the fellow residents and games. We watched the world stop while we kept going. It was hard. It was too hard, sometimes. I wanted to go home. Daryl Morey, general manager, Houston Rockets (now president of basketball operations, Philadelphia 76ers): A strange combination of The Colosseum for fans outside the bubble and a luxury purgatory for those of us within it. Outside, audiences were entertained by competition in isolation. Inside, players and executives battled opponents and the mental challenge of not being able to leave. Marc Spears, journalist and Naismith Hall of Fame inductee, Andscape: The accommodations for the media were mediocre, as we were actually staying in a motel (Oh, it wasn't THAT bad — Vardon), which made it hilarious to me that the players were complaining about being in four- and five- star accommodations with the ability to bring a loved one (later during the playoffs). They also had their own chefs and commandeered a few restaurants that media couldn't go to. To mentally survive, I made my accommodations fit as best as possible for me with things that were important to bringing me joy daily. I had a wine fridge stocked, I had a toaster oven to warm my food, I made my own coffee every day with very good bottled water and I had a speaker for my music. Some referees would come get my coffee. Adams, ESPN producer: We did 10 days of quarantine (most only served seven days in quarantine, but Adams and Malika Andrews were there before the players), which was the WORST part of it to me. We only left our room for daily testing and then right back in. We couldn't even keep our doors open. I did a 5K in my room daily, and I brought my bands and weights from home, thank goodness. We took COVID tests daily, for 108 days straight, and had to follow strict protocols. We also got to test new technology like ŌURA rings and KINEXON tracking and tracing devices. So, it was really exciting to be on the front lines of that. In my opinion, we proved that following protocols works. No one got COVID. Marc Stein, journalist, New York Times (now publishing on Substack): Five years later, honestly, I would use the same word that I used frequently back then: unmissable. As soon as we started hearing about it, I viewed the bubble as a had-to-be-there assignment, and I'm so grateful in retrospect that I was a resident of the NBA's first-of-its-kind village for 50-something days … even though I can also admit that I'm not in a real rush to deal with all those rules, regulations and restrictions again. I'm not sure we'll ever see the whole league (or two-thirds of it) congregated in one place again to build up to an NBA Finals that takes place in, uh, October. Advertisement Adams: I asked to go. I wanted to work and be a part of history. Vardon: So did I. Kyle Korver, guard, Milwaukee Bucks (now assistant general manager, Atlanta Hawks): I think the legacy is tied around like, humans can figure things out. In part because there were no fans, and in part because NBA teams and media don't typically live together, perhaps never before have reporters gotten quite as close a look at the players they cover as during the bubble. Breen: Even without the fans, how hard the players played, how intense those games were, just goes to show you how much they crave and love the competition. I mean, there's nobody there cheering them on. Some of these guys make these spectacular plays, and there's no crowd roar. It was odd, but it had zero impact on the player's intensity, and that wasn't easy. Fernández: I thought that some of those games were really cool. We got to two Game 7s, and we came back from a 3-1 deficit (against the Utah Jazz). So, for us, it was very special. And we didn't have enough with the Lakers (in the conference finals). They were very good, ended up winning. But I thought the guys were impressive. Jamal (Murray), Nikola Jokić, the whole group. Spears: What doesn't get talked about enough about the bubble was how amazing the basketball was there. It was truly basketball heaven. We basically were at an AAU tournament that included NBA players. It was absolutely incredible. There were three gyms next to each other, and games being played in two of them. I will never forget seeing Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals and then walking 15 yards to a gym to watch one of the craziest games ever in Game 7 between the underachieving Clippers and the Nuggets. Keep in mind that the media was able to sit close to the floor for games just like it was in the earlier part of my career. Advertisement Vardon: There were a bunch of tables outside the Gran Destino Tower at Coronado Springs, where the teams stayed. I was throwing a party for my fellow media members, and we had boxes of pizza and endless bottles of wine assembled. We were eating and drinking at dusk when, on a bicycle, wearing a helmet, LeBron James pulled up. 'Hey, LeBron,' I shouted to the noted wine connoisseur and fellow Akron, Ohio, native, 'Come have a drink with us.' 'Y'all got any tequila?' he countered. A little perplexed and on my heels, I said no, but we had plenty of wine, and good red at that, and added something to the effect of 'When would we have a chance to have a drink like this?' He wasn't moved, declared he was looking for tequila and rode his bike back toward the hotel – the doors opened automatically, and he pedaled through the carpeted hallway. … I also remember seemingly dozens of players, few if any of them playing for the LA Clippers, gathering around then-Clippers assistant Tyronn Lue to talk and laugh and listen on those same outdoor tables, and then-Nuggets coach Michael Malone, before the Nuggets' first game, putting name tags on the bench for each player to sit, socially distanced, with his own dedicated water bottle. The summer of 2020 would have been a tumultuous time in the United States even without a pandemic. The murder of George Floyd sparked protests across the country, and in the bubble, almost all the players knelt during the national anthems to protest police brutality and racial injustice. The season almost stopped again, and for good, when the Bucks forfeited a playoff game against the Orlando Magic in protest of the shooting of Jacob Blake in suburban Milwaukee. Amick: The country was on edge. Korver: The cultural issues, the George Floyd movement, Black Lives Matter movement, people feel quite a bit differently today than people were feeling about that during that time. There's been a shift in the culture in the country, an unfortunate shift, in my opinion, just where we're trying to move collectively or where many people are trying to move collectively. I think the NBA tried to empower the players to use their voice and to use the platform that they have. Those are challenging issues to have a strong voice in. I think it's a huge credit to the league for standing with, and again, trying to empower players to use their voice and to stand for issues that matter to them, to us, important issues. Golliver: In hindsight, that experience, which included the Milwaukee Bucks' decision to protest a police shooting by refusing to take the court, now feels like an inflection point. The NBA garnered praise and prompted backlash for its players' activism, and the league returned to a less polarizing reality for its 2020-21 season. The national anthem kneeling, jersey slogans and 'Black Lives Matter' signs are now a distant memory, and most star players kept a lower profile politically during the 2024 presidential election. Vardon: I nearly missed one of the biggest stories in NBA history. I had decided to take a nap and skip that Bucks-Magic game, because Milwaukee was up 3-0 in the series and the Lakers were playing later — they were appointment viewing. But I couldn't sleep and hopped the last bus to the Wide World of Sports Complex to catch the Bucks and Magic, who were supposed to be the first game of the day. Within minutes of arrival, I was standing outside the Bucks' locker room, reporting from my phone in real time as the players holed themselves up in there, refusing to come out. We could hear the Bucks through the walls, on the phone with the Wisconsin lieutenant governor. Korver: Playing that game that day didn't matter the most. And I think there's going to need to be more time before you really create a legacy of that moment. I don't know that there's been enough time. But again, I think it just goes back to the league being brave and being willing to speak out and stand up. And players have each other's back. I think it started off in our locker room, where we had a couple of players who felt like it wasn't the right decision (to play that day), and the rest of the locker room had their back. And then a team decides not to play, and the other players in the league had that team's back. And I just think that's the legacy of a true brotherhood. Advertisement Stein: I'm not sure I'll ever cover anything like the Bucks' playoff walkout and the powerful aftermath again. Vardon: With the fate of the bubble hanging in the balance that night, all of us who were there will remember the players from Eastern European countries, including superstars like Luka Dončić and Nikola Jokić, gathered at the island restaurant in the middle of a lake on the Coronado Springs property, singing together at the top of their lungs. I suppose any discussion of the bubble must include the, what's the word, legitimacy of the Lakers' championship? I promise I'll weigh in. Morey: Had the Rockets won the title, I absolutely would have celebrated it as legitimate, knowing the immense effort and resilience required. Yet, everyone I speak to around the league privately agrees that it doesn't truly hold up as a genuine championship. Perhaps the lasting legacy of the NBA bubble is that the NBA should be proud of its leadership at both the beginning and end of the pandemic, even though the champion will forever be marked by an asterisk. Goon: There should never be an asterisk to go with the Lakers' championship. That title, and everything about the bubble, was hard as hell. Reynolds: It's funny how the word 'bubble' has a different meaning now. The Lakers were bubble champions. Lakers-Heat was the bubble finals. These are not disrespectful terms. … Some say the Lakers won a watered-down title. I say they won the toughest one to win in NBA history. Amick: And yes, for the record, I believe the Lakers' bubble title truly counts as much, if not more, than any other. Vardon: Everyone played by the same rules, and the Lakers were a great team that year anyway. While I echo what my colleagues say about the difficulty of winning the bubble playoffs, I do have a 'Yeah, but…' One of the hard parts of the postseason is the air travel — especially on older players because of their recovery times. LeBron took one flight in three months, and I don't know what to do with that. Everyone in the Lakers played against in the bubble had the same set of circumstances, but when comparing the 2020 champs to preceding and succeeding champions, the Lakers and their aging vets didn't have to play a game, get on an airplane and play another game within 48 hours. There were, of course, no fans at these games. When families were allowed in, toward the end, they were seated, albeit socially distanced, in the stands, and other teams and league officials could sit and watch. The league tried something different — putting up a huge video board along the edge of the court and streaming in fans who were watching at home. Advertisement Breen: Somebody wrote a line that I thought was brilliant, that fans are the oxygen of pro sports. And I thought that was just perfect. … Not having the fans there and the reaction of going crazy or booing or being shocked — there was an element that was really missing, and without them there, your appreciation of what they bring and their passion that they have and how they motivate players, having motivated announcers, coaches, referees. Really, to me, that was something that I thought was wonderful for us to realize and appreciate just how important the fans were. Spears: The fake crowd noise was terrible, but to be in a gym of 100 people watching the NBA Finals was one of the most amazing moments of my career and life. It's something barring crazy I will never experience again. The 'bubble' was a success by almost any measure. There were zero cases of COVID among the 700 NBA players and team staff who were there. Vendors working inside the bubble did get sick — 24 cases of COVID-19 identified among non-team personnel — but there was no forward transmission to campus residents. The league regularly shared its protocols, best practices and findings with the CDC, FDA and Tokyo Olympics, and no fewer than 10 scientific journals documented what the science and medical communities learned from what the NBA pulled off. No playoff games were canceled, and a champion was crowned, which meant there was no violation of the league's multibillion-dollar TV contract. And yet, the experience felt so … difficult. The isolation. Time away from home. The social movements. Challenging food. Florida weather in July and August. Bonkers air conditioning. Which is why takeaways from our time there are always so mixed. Fernández: My son was 9 months old when I left. He was 9 months old. And when I came back, he was a little over 1, so I missed his first birthday. I was kind of sad. I remember we were playing Utah, Game 7. And if we win, we get to stay. And if I lose, I get to go to my son's birthday. … I would never want to go through that again. Also, I'm glad I did it because it was, you know, I can always say that I was there. Adams: As I look back, being in the NBA bubble is the hardest thing I have ever done mentally, emotionally and physically. It tested me, but I am so glad I did it. Once I found a rhythm, I got my footing. I found a way to fit in my workouts early in the morning. Working out is my mental health. I found community in the other journalists. We were all experiencing the same things: Isolation, being away from our families, eating food we didn't prepare and being in confined spaces. … I can honestly say, when I see people that were in the bubble with me, I smile bigger, and I hug them harder. It was an experience I will never forget and cherish. An example of the NBA bubble love, I celebrated my 60th birthday in the bubble. They threw me a big surprise birthday party. I was shocked and speechless. I was overwhelmed with emotion and cried many times during the evening. The bubble love is real. Reynolds: The legacy of the bubble has so many layers now. Unless you were there, you still don't — and can't — understand what it was like. It worked. The NBA pulled it off. The season was saved. The outside world had the escape it desperately needed from fear and uncertainty and anger and boredom and everything else that came with the lockdown days. Would I do it again? God, I hope not. But I'm proud to say that I was there and was one of the few who covered a season like none other. We all went through hell but were very lucky to have that privilege. Goon: The mental trial to finish an already-trying season was something that folks who didn't experience it have never fully appreciated. Advertisement Stein: The bubble was historic and invigorating and taxing all at once. You just had to be there if you were lucky enough to get an invite. Spears: I was able to be in a room that only a select few people could say they ever entered. And I will forever cherish having had that assignment. Vardon: At the outset of my trip five years ago, in a story, I called the bubble 'the last, great American sports writing assignment' — which, sue me, may have been a bit hyperbolic at the time. But at the end of it, I wrote it was 'the assignment of a lifetime,' which was, and remains, correct. We, as a country and even as an industry, rebounded from that hot summer. Life returned. Fans came back. I've been to two Olympics, to Paris three times, to the Middle East and Mexico twice, to Southeast Asia, Spain and London, all on assignment. But the 54 days I spent at Disney World, how I feel about them is captured here, by all the people who were kind enough to share their thoughts. It's strange — of the 22 teams in the bubble, only one head coach is still with the team he coached there (Erik Spoelstra with Miami, though Lue was an assistant with the Clippers then). It's a sign of how fast and often things change in the NBA. And yet, when 10 years have passed since the bubble, the memories republished here, and the ones still in my head, will still be there. (Top photo of Disney's Coronado Springs Resort: Joe Murphy / NBAE via Getty Images)
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
Best of Derrick White with the Boston Celtics in 2024-25
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