SALT LAKE CITY — Though Mike Conley is a member of the Utah Jazz, his experiences in Memphis with the Grizzlies still shape his decisions.
When the NBA restarts on July 30, as a part of the NBA’s initiative to raise awareness about racial inequality and injustice, the league is allowing players to replace their last names on the back of their jerseys with phrases or words that relate to the fight for equality.
Conley’s Jazz jersey will read “I Am A Man,” the phrase that Memphis sanitation workers used in the 1968 strike in which African American workers protested to have a recognized union, earn higher wages, and all around be treated as their white counterparts were.