The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the 22 NBA teams invited to the league's winner-take-all return to the season at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
The team is scheduled to return to practice later this month before heading to Orlando in early July, where they will try and win their first NBA championship in team history.
However, a lot has happened since the Clippers last took the court on March 10. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the season and sent most of America to their homes. The death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery ignited powerful protests across the globe, bringing much-needed attention to racial injustice, police brutality, and systemic racism in our society.
On Monday, the Clippers addressed those tragedies in a shot film entitled "While We Were Away." The film is narrated by All-Star Paul George, as he details what's happened the last three months in America, ending with the resumption of the NBA season.
"While we were away, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery were murdered," he says in the video. "Cause of death: another more familiar virus, centuries old."
George admits that the return of the NBA will not bring back those lives, or the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been lost because of the coronavirus. He concedes that even when basketball returns, it doesn't mean the virus has died. The coronavirus will continue to infect thousands and take many more lives before all is said and done.
The full video features George, Doc Rivers, Patrick Beverly, Montrezl Harrell, Lou Williams, and Kawhi Leonard. It can be viewed below:
