The Lakers wore “I can’t breathe” t-shirts during the warm-ups before their game against the Kings:
Kobe Bryant, Lakers latest to warm up in ‘I can’t breathe’ shirts
Tipping off in moments. #GoLakers pic.twitter.com/YTE9LSqWty
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) December 10, 2014 Pregame warmups. BK pic.twitter.com/ewK6fWa2gf
— Kamenetzky Brothers (@KamBrothers) December 10, 2014 #ICantBreathe @swaggyp and the rest of the @Lakers making a national statement @ABC7 #ABC7Eyewitness pic.twitter.com/38C7S7xaBU
— Jenny Levine (@JennyisaLevine) December 10, 2014 The L.A. players join a growing group of athletes who have paid tribute to the late Eric Garner and shown support for his family by wearing the shirt featuring Garner’s words. Derrick Rose started the trend the Saturday after a grand jury ruled against indicting the officer who killed Garner, then several NFL players including Reggie Bush followed suit on Sunday.
On Monday, with British royalty visiting Barclays Center and protests taking places outside, members of the Cavaliers and Nets including LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Deron Williams wore shirts during their warm-ups. The Lakers are the first team to have every active player wear the shirts at once.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver has already offered his opinion on players bending the pre-game dress rules to make a statement:
On 'I Can't Breathe,' shirts, Adam Silver tells Yahoo: "I respect Derrick Rose and all of our players for voicing their personal views..."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 9, 2014 Adam Silver continued: "...on important issues but my preference would be for players to abide by our on-court attire rules."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) December 9, 2014 
