N.B.A. Players March in George Floyd Protests

A broad range of athletes and sports figures have issued statements on social media condemning the killing of George Floyd and other police violence against African-Americans.

But several N.B.A. players have gone even further. They’ve jumped off the sidelines to join the sprawling protests that have leapt up all over the country, which lines up with an image the N.B.A. has gone to great lengths to cultivate for itself in recent years: that of a socially conscious league that has fought against injustice for decades stretching back to the days of Bill Russell.

This comes with risk for the players: Some of the protests have turned violent and many demonstrators are not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing in accordance with coronavirus pandemic precautions.

Yet very few issues have sparked the outrage of figures in and around the N.B.A. like that of police brutality and the killing of black people, an issue that has touched many black communities in the United States and one that N.B.A. stars, who play in a predominantly black league, have been keen to speak on for several years.

Jaylen Brown, the 23-year-old rising star for the Celtics, said it took him 15 hours to drive from Boston to Atlanta to take part in protests. Brown, who went to high school in Georgia, invited others to join him over the weekend, posting a message on Twitter that said, “Atlanta don’t meet me there beat me there come walk with me bring your own signs.” He added in an Instagram story, “First and foremost, I’m a black man and I’m a member of this community … We’re raising awareness for some of the injustices that we’ve been seeing.”

Malcolm Brogdon, a 27-year-old guard for the Indiana Pacers, also demonstrated in Atlanta this weekend.

“I’ve got a grandfather that marched next to Dr. King in the ’60s, and he was amazing,” Brogdon said to a crowd through a bullhorn. “He would be proud to see us all here.”

And Enes Kanter, the outspoken Celtics center, woke up on Saturday at his manager’s home in Chicago — where he stays during the summer — and made a 20-hour, cross-country drive to join a protest in Boston.

Kanter, while wearing his jersey, appeared with throngs of Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Boston Common, chanting “I can’t breathe.” His teammate, Marcus Smart, was nearby protesting as well.

“It was a crazy drive,” Kanter said Monday. “It felt terrible. My back was hurting. My shoulder was hurting. But you know what? The results were something good so it was worth going.”

The league’s activism has been selective, the N.B.A.’s critics note. It began the season in October with an international incident after a Houston Rockets executive expressed support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, causing a protracted debate over whether league executives and players caved to China’s anger over it.

The N.B.A. also has a rule requiring that players stand during the national anthem, effectively…