Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press

Fred VanVleet shared his thoughts on the decision of the NBA to restart the season in Orlando next month.

The guard of the Toronto Raptors believes the right thing was not to play, yet he knows the league would face a significant financial loss if the season was cancelled.

However, he stated that if the majority of players had decided to skip the resumption of the season, he would have done the same.

“It sucks. It sucks, man. It’s terrible timing. But that’s been 2020 for us. We all know the right thing to do is to not play, to take a stand. Morally, yes, that makes sense. But life goes on. We’re all young, Black guys. None of us want to give any money back. I don’t think that we should.

I think that money can be used in a number of different ways. This is not going to end this summer regardless, or over the next couple of months. This issue, racial injustice, social injustice, police brutality, all these things are not ending anytime soon.

Our fight was long term. That was part of my decision. But if the league, or more of my guys would have come together and said we didn’t want to play, I would have sat out as well. I wouldn’t have even fought it. I think most of us decided to play.

It’s something we’ll have to live with. I trust that my heart’s in the right place and I’m doing enough to make change,” VanVleet told Eric Koreen of The Athletic.