- Try to make the best decision
as a human,
not just for yourself or selfish reasons,
just for humanity.
- One vote might seem as insignificant, but it is important.
- Understand that, in numbers, we have strength.
- Everybody needs to understand that their vote matters.
- I'm JR Smith, and I'm voting cuz my voice matters.
- I'm Udonis Haslem, and I'm voting
because the power is in the people.
- I'm Cody Zeller,
and I am voting
because it's my right as a U.S. citizen.
- I'm Miles Bridges,
and I am voting because my life matters.
- Voting’s important to me
because just so many peoples sacrificed
over the course of time of our ancestors.
So many people didn't have the right to vote.
Just to be able to say I did something,
and that my opinion and my voice matters.
- When you look at any of these individual issues
in communities, whether it's Jacob Blake
or for George Floyd or Breonna Taylor,
what's clear is that the decisions
about what happens in local communities usually sit
in the hands of elected officials,
whether it's the district attorney
or the judge or the sheriff.
We get the leadership that we choose.
- Being from Florida and understanding the importance
of the state of Florida, you know, in the process,
as soon as I got home,
I wanted to make it a priority to get right
to the polls right there and vote.
Because those are the things that we've been pushing
while we were in the bubble,
so I wanted to make sure we keep that momentum
when we get outside of the bubble,
and Florida has a lot to do
with the outcome of the voting situation.
Let's just say that.
- One of the things that makes our country unique
compared to other countries is that
we do have a say in who our leaders are gonna be.
And, you know, one vote might seem as insignificant,
but it is important for everyone to vote.
As I hear about some of the policies,
it really affects my life.
It's not just picking between
which two people are my favorite.
My dad has had open-heart surgery when I was in high school,
so he has an aortic valve and a pre-existing condition.
So that's one of the hot topics
for me and my family is making sure
that he's able to get health insurance.
- The country, we're going through a lot right now.
So it's important for everybody to get out and vote.
Everybody just needs to understand
that their vote matters.
- Do your due diligence, honestly.
Just do your research, take the time,
take this very serious.
It's not something you can just, you know, walk in
and breeze through.
You have more candidates
than just the Democrat and Republican options
that they're giving you.
It takes time and consideration
cuz it affects a lot of people.
It affects all of us.
- Understand that in numbers, we have strength.
In numbers we have strength, people.
So, it's gonna be hard.
You know, we're getting misinformation and confusion,
but we have strength in numbers.
- [Smith:] I was asking guys who's voted, who's listed,
making sure guys are registered.
At the end of the day,
that's where it starts happening.
Encouraging people in my community,
my friends, my family,
making sure it's starting right there,
and then hopefully they can pass that along
to somebody else.
- My role in the PA is working with the players
on their philanthropy and their social impact,
and a big part of that is civic engagement.
I don't think that we were surprised
to find out that not all of our players were registered.
I think it was somewhat what we expected.
No matter what you do
as it relates to registering for people to vote,
it's one man, one vote, one player,
one registration, and we sorta methodically began doing that
about this time last year.
- [Bridges:] I would say who helped me get out and vote
were my teammates.
They're very on that.
My coach, he's done a great job getting everybody to vote.
He's very involved with our Swarm to the Polls voting.
- He's been great throughout the whole summer,
making it a big point to vote,
and especially get the young guys registered and educated.
He really preaches to us to be a complete person,
not just a good basketball player.
- They were a big help.
Michele Roberts,
she knew to talk the talk
when it came
to talking to the mayor's office and the mayor.
It was just very, very inspiring to have the backing
of the Players Association more than anything.
- The way we think about arenas are gathering places
for a lot of us, or for all of us, actually.
They're anchors in a lot of the neighborhoods
and communities, and specifically for JR,
even though the Prudential Center is no longer a place
where basketball is being played,
it sits right at the center of Newark.
It's a part of his experience living in Newark.
And he knew that providing it as a safe, accessible place
for people to come vote was important,
and he wanted to make sure that his neighbors
and family members
and community could have that safe place.
- Me being 40 years old now,
I'm really starting to really understand
all the different ways of voter suppression
and systematic racism.
And for me, I was largely voter suppressed,
you know what I'm saying?
I didn't think my vote even mattered.
You're not having voters’ conversations with your friends.
You're not being educated on voting in school.
And then when you do get old enough to vote,
how do you pick somebody that you vote for?
How are you comfortable
with the person that you're endorsing?
Those are some of the things that,
you know, I wasn't even aware of,
that I had to educate myself on.
So now that I have this platform,
it's time for me to pass that information along.
- At the end of the day,
I'm bigger than a basketball player.
So I can honestly say
I didn't take it as serious
or look at it like that as I did in the past,
but obviously everybody matures
at their own pace,
so I'm just happy I'm on the right side of it.
- Everybody has a voice.
No matter if you play basketball,
you still have a voice.
And just because you play basketball,
you can't just limit somebody to just one thing in life.
I feel like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony,
Chris Paul and all those guys,
they've done a great job
of setting the standard for us younger guys.
And we see guys like Malcolm Brogdon
and Jaylen Brown, they've definitely taken the torch.
So we just wanna follow after those guys.
- People are gonna look back,
our kids are gonna look back at this and say,
"You were a part of that."
I got a grandfather that marched next to Dr. King
in the '60s, and he was amazing.
He would be proud to see us all here.
We gotta keep pushing forward.
- What gives me hope is just everybody is starting
to get involved now.
Before, it would only be, like, a certain amount of guys
that would speak out about it on Twitter or Instagram,
but now I feel like guys have taken to the streets.
- I mean, I think it's great to see.
You see the change coming.
You feel the inspiration
within so many young people
who have voices and know they have voices
and know that their voice means something.
I think social networking alone
has just been so connecting
to everybody, to where we actually feel the pain
and hurt that so many people go through.
It's not just one city
or one small town or one small community.
It's a whole world out here where
a lot of people feel the exact same way.
- Unified, collectively, in numbers,
bringing everybody together.
It's been proven.
It's been shown that, you know, we can do it
if we all do it together.
So, that's the most encouraging thing to me,
watching everybody come together in the bubble.
You know, that's the first time, and I've been in this league 17 years,
that I've watched everybody collectively,
on one platform, use their voice for the same common goal.
And that was amazing for me to see.
- You know, one of the things
I've found really interesting is
how excited the first-time voters are, right?
That they're able to sort of step out there,
and not just step out there on their own and vote,
but take their colleagues with them,
take their family members with them.
I think what we have done
in our league is make voting a part
of what it means to be an NBA player.
And I think every rookie that walks into this league
at the draft will know
that even though the election is behind us,
that they'll need to register too, and I'm proud of that.