Sam Amick

USA TODAY Sports

The fact that Andre Iguodala is afraid says it all.

The 32-year-old is a picture of strength, 215 pounds of chiseled muscle on his 6-foot-6 frame, career earnings that top $100 million in his wallet and a sharp mind to earn much more in his post-playing days. As self-empowerment goes, that confidence gained through one’s life experiences and accomplishments, his sense of security is as strong as anyone’s.

Yet, as he settles into his chair at the Golden State Warriors practice facility to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and the NBA’s part in it during the post-Colin Kaepernick chapter, Iguodala – like so many African-Americans these days – is nervous.

“They’re gonna get me,” he says ominously, repeating a refrain his teammates have heard so many times. “I’ve got nothing to say.”

This is not some off-color joke from a man who is renowned for his edgy humor. This is someone with one of the game’s most incisive intellects, a socially-conscious voice who is working with league and players union officials to formulate a productive plan to spark positive change, being tempted not to talk because of the fear that grips him.

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He has a wife and kids to worry about. He has a recognizable face and a high-profile name. He knows about the sensitivity of this subject and worries that someone will try to silence the outcry with retaliation. Still, driven largely by the “convenient ignorance” that he believes must end, he speaks.

“The police are definitely needed, (but) at the end of the day it’s just holding them accountable,” Iguodala, a member of the National Basketball Players Association’s executive committee, told USA TODAY Sports recently. “You hold athletes accountable, right? Whenever we screw up, it’s headline news – ‘how did this guy mess up?’ We’re almost looked at as God-like figures, like we shouldn’t screw up, when we’re actually human beings. They’re looked at as God-like figures as well, but when they do wrong, it’s almost like they didn’t do it. We’re held in the same ideology, but we’re held to different standards.”

The NBA’s voice

If any sports league was tailor made to take on this issue, to help rebuild the bridge between black communities and law enforcement while raising awareness to the systemic racism that plagues this country, it’s the NBA. According to a 2015 study by Richard Lapchick, the director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the NBA has the highest percentage of African-American players of any professional sport in United States and Canada (74.4%, compared to 68.7% in the NFL, 8.3% in Major League Baseball and less than 2% in the NHL). There’s a long history of social activism on the part of the NBA, too, one that was overseen by former Commissioner David Stern for 30 years before he was replaced by Adam Silver in Feb. 2014. With the regular season set to start on Oct. 25 and their spotlight brighter and bigger than ever, the NBA’s place in this conversation will grow from here.

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“(The NBA) has always prided itself on dealing with social issues,” Stern told USA TODAY Sports. “I mean, we have a president of social responsibility (Kathy Behrens), and NBA Cares (program). We grew at a time when people said we couldn’t survive because we were too black, so we know the journey.

“We dealt with everything from Magic Johnson announcing he was HIV positive, and the impact of that, to so many other issues that – even if they were unpleasant at the time – that allowed people and the media to call our players thugs and punks. We knew the code words, and we dealt with that.”

There’s recent evidence of the league’s progressive identity as well: Silver’s banning of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling in April 2014 after his racist rant inside his home was published by TMZ; the Atlanta Hawks saga just months later, when then-owner Bruce Levenson and then-general manager Danny Ferry made racially-insensitive remarks on e-mail and a conference call, respectively, that led to massive changes throughout the organization (and included the unprecedented hire of a Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Nzinga Shaw).

More recently, there was the powerful image of Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James standing shoulder to shoulder at the ESPYs awards show in mid-July. Their hands folded and faces stern, four of the league’s highest-profile stars gave a three-minute, 32-second call for change during the opening segment that advanced the conversation and served as a window of what’s to come.

“We stand here tonight accepting our role in uniting communities, to be the change we need to see,” Paul said.

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Stern watched with pride during that moment.

“Now we know, know that when LeBron and D-Wade and Carmelo and CP are at the ESPYs, we know that those players are at the top of the celebrity curve,” he said. “When we started out on this journey, our players were in the basement. So we understand the impact that sports can have.”

Taking action

With racial tensions rising even more since then and so many players uniquely positioned to share relevant perspective, it’s becoming quite clear that they’ll be doing their part to help with the healing. The plan, which is being developed by the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association in a recent partnership that has led to near-daily discussions on the matter internally, is expected to be more action-oriented than it is protest-based.

There may be some Kaepernick moments, players choosing not to stand during the anthem and thus forcing the league to decide whether to enforce its rule mandating player participation. But there will be far more events like the one in Los Angeles, where Anthony led a “community conversation” in which he was joined by 80 teenagers (mostly black and Hispanic), Los Angeles Police Department officers, Kevin Durant (Golden State Warriors), DeAndre Jordan (Los Angeles Clippers) and the WNBA’s Tamika Catchings (Indiana Fever) and Elena Delle Donne (Chicago Sky); or the panel discussion in Mobile, Ala., where Sacramento Kings star DeMarcus Cousins hosted an event in his hometown with police officers and community members deemed “Break the Silence, Build the Trust.”

By November, at least half a dozen similar events are expected to take place across the country – with a similar rate in the months that follow throughout the season. Players are being asked to share their ideas and inspirations behind the scenes, not only as a way to maximize impact but to ensure they’re personally invested in the efforts.

Owners are getting in on the conversation, sending the right message of support . NBPA executive director Michele Roberts (who is African American) is doing her part, along with Silver and his team at the league office. But it’s the many concerned players – from NBPA executive committee members like Iguodala, Paul, James, Anthony, Steph Curry, James Jones, Kyle Korver, Steve Blake and Anthony Tolliver to under-the-radar activists like Jabari Parker, Wayne Ellington and Wade – who are leading this charge.

For Iguodala’s part, there’s part of him that would prefer to make a difference in the dark. So he counsels other players on the issues, helping with behind-the-scenes education while making sure people realize that the law enforcement aspect is merely part of a bigger problem. He focuses on the little things that make a big difference, like the recommendation he recently gave general manager Bob Myers (who is white) to read the Ta-Nehisi Coates book, “Between the World and Me,” in order to better understand the black experience.

But he’ll speak out, too, because he knows he must. The potential to make a difference, he knows, is just too great.

“It’s just a discussion that we’re having,” Iguodala said. “(The NBA is) trying to stay ahead of it, but I feel like Adam Silver is the type of commissioner who has some type of – he cares, like he actually (believes), like ‘Yo, we do need to help these people out.’

“There’s two sides to it (from the league’s perspective). There’s a personal and a business side. I feel like he cares on both levels. But with the discussion, Colin definitely got it started. Now it’s just ‘What’s next?’”