LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Garnett & Deron Williams - 'I Can't Breathe' T-Shirt Statement: NBA Stars Take On Racism At Protested British Royal-Attended Cleveland Cavaliers-Brooklyn Nets Game

A host of NBA stars, including LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, Kevin Garnett, and Deron Williams, took on racism alongside Jay-Z, wearing 'I Can't Breathe' t-shirts and making their statement regarding race relations at the protested British royal-attended Cleveland Cavaliers-Brooklyn Nets game in Brooklyn last night. The 'I Can't Breathe' slogan were the last words from slain man Eric Garner, who died after being put in a chokehold, and with Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton in the building, the NBA players made their point, saying "it's not a black-or-white issue, it's a people issue".

Possibly the most powerful image of the night. via @NetsDaily pic.twitter.com/2uDR2jzeXU

— devin kharpertian (@uuords) December 9, 2014

With thousands of protestors outside of Barclays Center, the stars took to their pre-game warm ups wearing the t-shirts that came form Nets guard Jarrett Jack. Reported The Brooklyn Game's Devin Kharpertian, "James said he got the shirt from Jack. Jack supplied the shirts for the Cavaliers, while Jay-Z supplied the shirts for the Nets."

"It's not a black-or-white issue, it's not," Jack added, reports The Brooklyn Game, "it's just an equality issue, it's a people issue. It's a citizen issue." LeBron James echoed Jack's sentiments, reports ESPN. "It's not a Cavs thing," said James ahead of the game, which, as MStars News has reported, was attended by British royal couple Prince William and Duchess Kate Middleton amid protests from citizens concerned about the decision to not indict officers charged with causing the deaths of young black men. "It's a worldly thing."

As per the ESPN report, James has criticized the way Michael Brown in Ferguson and Tamir Rice in Cleveland died after confrontations with police. As to why the Cavaliers star decided to make this statement, "It's just for us to make a [statement] to understand what we're going through as a society," replied James.

"Obviously, as a society we have to do better," James added. "We have to be better for one another. It doesn't matter what race you are. It's more of a shout out to the family more than anything, because they're the ones that should be getting all the energy and effort."

Jack explained that the point of the Nets players wearing the t-shirts was to show that "we're a team that's not with prejudice. We want to have tolerance for everybody. And I just want to allow those guys to come be a part of it as well as much as we could."

Nets star Deron Williams told reporters, "I try to kinda distance myself from [social issues]," but this is one where I kinda really paid attention and saw what was going on."

He added, however, that there was little anyone could do but take notice. "I mean, you can see the [Garner] video and you know what happened," said WIlliams. "It's not one of those things where people are saying this and the cops are saying that. It's there for you to see. You just feel bad that a man lost his life because of that."

Deron Williams on “I Can’t Breathe” shirt protest: “You see the video, you know what happened” https://t.co/IQr8CUWSqb pic.twitter.com/wGeTyThIWe

— devin kharpertian (@uuords) December 9, 2014

Cavs point guard Kyrie Irving added, "This is bigger than all of us. We have to take a stand together and it's truly important that we do," reports Sports Illustrated.

Following up his wearing of the 'I Can't Breathe' t-shirt on the weekend, as ESPN reported, Derrick Rose explained his motivations and said to The Chicago Tribune's Steve Rosenbloom, "My biggest concern is the kids." The Chicago Bulls star said Rose added that he "was one of them kids. When you live in an area like that and you don't got any hope and police are treating you any way – I'm not saying all police are treating kids bad – but when you live in an area like that, it gives you another reason to be bad. My biggest concern is the kids and making sure my son grows up in a safe environment.''

As for the reaction his T-shirt got, "I'm just happy that people paid attention to it,'' said Rose to the Tribune. "I think it touched a lot of people because I grew up in an impoverished area like that (Englewood). It just touched a lot of people. And I wanted to make sure I got my point across.''

What do you think? Is this an effective way for the NBA players to get their message across?