National Basketball Association

Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo React to Terence Crutcher Shooting

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo have both joined the protesting towards police brutality with separate Instagram posts about the Terence Crutcher shooting.

There’s a specific reason as to why the Chicago Bulls signing Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo made sense from this chaotic summer of moves in the NBA.

That reason has nothing to do with basketball and everything to do with making their communities better places.

Wade spoke with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul at the 2016 ESPY Awards about the violence taking place across the United States involving the police, while Rondo has been helping out in the Chicago community with the black youth since his arrival.

Both players had something to say about the tragic shooting of Terence Crutcher; an unarmed man who was shot dead by Tulsa police recently. Crutcher was hit with a taser and then shot dead by officer Betty Shelby next to his abandoned car in the middle of the road in Oklahoma last Friday.

Wade reacted accordingly.

A few hours after Wade’s post, Rondo reacted to the video as well with a silhouette of a man with his hands up.

New Bulls point guard Jerian Grant also had something to say about the Crutcher shooting on Twitter.

Stop turning us into hashtags #TerenceCrutcher

— Jerian Grant (@JerianGrant) September 20, 2016

This season is going to bring some vocal leaders about the issues in America today. Paul and Russell Westbrook and each had something to say on Instagram and truthfully, it only feels like the beginning. The NBA is predominantly filled with black players, so in terms of these protests gaining steam, look no further than what the NBA community does this season.

Former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch also spoke with Conan O’Brien on Tuesday night about the protests in the NFL sparked by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

His words are definitely something worth listening to as well.

Wade, Rondo, Paul, Westbrook, Kaepernick and Lynch — all black players in their own sports — are standing up for justice and using their platform as professional athletes to say something about the wrongdoing in the United States these days.

It’s just a start, but their voices and actions are needed now more than ever.