OKC Thunder: NBPA – Russell Westbrook partnering to create social justice shirts

OKC Thunder: Russell Westbrook, outside Vuitton, during Paris Fashion Week - Menswear 2020,. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)
OKC Thunder: Russell Westbrook, outside Vuitton, during Paris Fashion Week - Menswear 2020,. (Photo by Edward Berthelot/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The NBPA and former OKC Thunder superstar Russell Westbrook will partner on shirts for inside the Disney bubble.

Former OKC Thunder superstar Russell Westbrook is known as a competitor on the court. Off the court, he has other passions. His family is his clear priority including wife Nina along with their three children – son Noah is the oldest, and twin daughters Jordyn and Skye.

On top of being a doting father, Westbrook has long shown a true passion for fashion. While still with the OKC Thunder he published a book called Style Drivers and also launched his fashion line and company Honor the Gift.

In addition to these ventures, Westbrook spends ample time with philanthropic efforts via his charity the Why Not? Foundation. The superstar often pairs his fashion company and foundation with the events or endeavors he undertakes.

This past week Westbrook announced he was still at home because he had tested positive for COVID-19. Although he is asymptomatic he needs to wait until his tests produce negative results.

NBPA and Westbrook working on joint venture

Despite not being in Orlando at the ESPN Wide World of Sports, Disney complex he is still working closely with the people who are on site.

Today Shams Charania Tweeted that Westbrook is working with the National Basketball Players Association on a joint venture featuring his clothing line.

More from Thunderous Intentions

Specifically, his fashion line will design social justice shirts for the players to be worn inside the bubble. The shirts will focus on social justice messaging and utilize statements that were not part of the 29 approved messages.

Charania indicates they will be lifestyle shirts and some of the messages could be Systemic Racism, Police Reform, and Am I Next?

In Orlando during media sessions, several players have voiced disappointment in not being able to use a specific message.  That leads me to believe these messages will incorporate ones the players requested that either got denied or were submitted too late. Although some of the messages Charania notes are part of the 29 such as I Can’t Breathe and Equality.

This has Chris Paul‘s hands all over and that’s not surprising since Westbrook was part of a group who worked with Paul and the NBPA throughout the hiatus. Others in the subgroup committee were Kyle Lowry, Jayson Tatum, and Dwight Powell.

What we don’t know is whether these shirts will be used in games such as warm-up shirts or simply for players to wear on the campus. What is likely, is Westbrook will make the shirts available for sale with all proceeds going to charity.

To clarify, I don’t know this to be a fact, but it would be in keeping with how Westbrook operates and what he’s done in the past with ventures of this nature. My guess is all proceeds would go to fund specific items – for example, perhaps to help launch black entrepreneurs launch businesses.

We’ll await more information, but kudos to Westbrook for jumping on an opportunity to meet the needs of his peers and continuing to keep the focus on achieving social and racial justice.

Next. Regrading Russell Westbrook trade to Rockets - one year later. dark