Kings, Celtics partner on PSA, 'Accountability' shirts in aftermath of Stephon Clark shooting

Sam Amick | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Fatal police shooting protested in Sacramento Demonstrators protested outside City Hall and disrupted the start of an NBA game in Sacramento, California, after police shot and killed an unarmed black man. Police say they feared Stephon Clark was holding a gun when they shot him on Sunday.

SACRAMENTO -- One week after Sacramento police officers shot and killed unarmed 22-year-old African-American Stephon Clark after responding to a call about break-ins, and three days after hundreds of protesters blocked the entrance to a Kings-Hawks NBA game, the Kings and Boston Celtics wore shirts in warmups that read “Accountability. We Are One.” on the front and “#StephonClark” on the back.

In the first quarter of Sunday’s game, a public service announcement from Kings and Celtics players played on the in-house video screen. It was released on social media about a half hour after the game began and was to be included on the game broadcast.

USA TODAY Sports was given an early look at the PSA.

“These tragedies have to stop,” Kings rookie De’Aaron Fox says at the start.

“There must be accountability,” Celtics big man Al Horford follows.

And so on from there. In all, it’s 62 poignant words spoken by 17 player voices – with one shared goal of raising awareness.

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The PSA was recorded Saturday but production unofficially began Thursday night. Celtics coach Brad Stevens was among the many who were moved by Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, who stood at midcourt after Friday’s game that was disrupted by protests. Many fans never made it inside. Ranadive addressed the few thousand fans who made it in before the doors had been closed, expressing sympathy for Clark’s family and emphasizing the importance of a unified community. Stevens, who was with his team in Portland at the time, reached out.

“Brad Stevens was real big,” said Kings guard Garrett Temple, who was integral in the process as well. Temple, in particular, is adamant that police need to be held more accountable.

The back of shirt the Kings will wear today pic.twitter.com/7kHzTPvdb6 — Jason Jones (@mr_jasonjones) March 25, 2018

“Right away, right after (Stevens) heard Vivek, he wanted to do whatever he could, and with his organization he wanted to do whatever he could to help and be in support of us. To have seven or eight of those guys come over from the (team) hotel (in Sacramento) and do that PSA (on Saturday) with us, that’s powerful. That shows the character of Brad, and then obviously the players on the team and that organization.”

Temple led the way when it came to the shirts, but the original idea came from Kings player development coordinator Akachi Okugo.

“(Okugo) mentioned it…and I was like, ‘That’s great; you’re right,’” Temple said. “And then I talked to our people, and it went up the ramp and it went up to the NBA.”

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