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2020 Black Lives Matter protests
Following a four-month hiatus the NBA resumed play in August 2020 at the Bubble held at Walt Disney World during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the build-up to the closed-door tournament, the death of George Floyd in May and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests during that time forced the hand of the NBA, a league looking to stand with its majority-Black player base. As a result, the league permitted players to wear league-approved messages on the back of their jerseys, and relaxed their long-standing position on not standing for the U.S. national anthem. The league also painted "BLACK LIVES MATTER" at center court for both of their venues for the tournament.

Many critics, mostly conservative news media personalities and politicians such as Trump and Ted Cruz, attacked the NBA for its public embracement of the movement. When Jonathan Isaac, an Orlando Magic player and a devout Evangelical Christian, both refused to kneel during the anthem in solidarity with his teammates or wear the team-approved "Black Lives Matter" t-shirt given to him, sales of his jersey rose in approval. On the other hand, San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich and Miami Heat player Meyers Leonard received criticism for doing the same, though they wore the "Black Lives Matter" tees while standing.

NBA player walkout
In response to the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, NBA players in the midst of their playoff anchored a wildcat strike in protest, setting off a chain reaction throughout North American sports where no professional games were played in any major league on August 26. While this did not receive major backlash as the earlier social-justice focused programs did, it represented a showing of player power that many American sports fans have found themselves uncomfortable with, especially with regard to the NBA.

The league and its players formed several initiatives in the wake of the walkout, the most notable of them being a pledge to turn several NBA venues into voting sites for the upcoming U.S. presidential election.

2020 NBA Finals ratings
The record-low ratings for the 2020 NBA Finals, which saw the Los Angeles Lakers defeat the Miami Heat in six games, were widely panned by apolitical pundits and conservative critics  , with myriad theories given as to why the ratings for the event dropped 65% from 2019. Most conservative critics, still engaging their audiences with relentless criticism of the NBA's social-justice initiatives, surmised that fans were disinterested in watching the league take such a politically polarizing stance (especially during the 2020 election). Others cited the league's struggles in the ratings as playing at an abnormal time of year, especially with the MLB postseason and the NFL regular season -- two traditional fall events -- undercutting casual fan interest, as opposed to the traditionally robust numbers the NBA's final gets in June.