Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James wears an " I Can't Breathe" t-shirt during warm ups prior to the game against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center in New York City December 8, 2014.
As Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, sits uncomfortably on a powder keg of emotion and protest, he cannot retreat into the rule book.
On Saturday, Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose, one of the league's biggest stars, wore a shirt with the phrase "I Can't Breathe" during warm-ups before a game against Golden State. On Monday, four players from the Nets and two from the Cleveland Cavaliers wore similar shirts onto the court before their game in Brooklyn.
The phrase – a reference to the final words of an unarmed black man from Staten Island, N.Y., Eric Garner, who died after he was placed in a chokehold by a white police officer – has become a rallying cry for protesters demonstrating against police violence.
With more high-profile NBA players choosing to wear the T-shirts in pregame warm-ups, a number that will probably grow in the coming days, Silver is trying to walk a thin line between protecting the business interests of the league and its sponsors and not appearing to mute the voices of its athletes.
On Monday, he issued a careful statement in which he said, "I respect Derrick Rose and all of our players for voicing their personal views on important issues, but my preference would be for players to abide by our on-court attire rules."
If the attire rules refer only to players being obligated to wear official team gear, that's a quick fix: The manufacturer can simply print "I Can't Breathe" shirts – with the appropriate logos – and make them available to anyone wishing to wear one.
But I suspect it's not the brand but the message the league finds troubling.
Asked about Silver's statement, Nets guard Jarrett Jack, who obtained the shirts and supplied them to players on both teams, said: "That's his own opinion. Obviously, these are business hours, so I get the angle that he is coming from. But this is something that was very, very important to us."
Asked if he would wear the T-shirt again, Jack said: "I don't know. We're just striving for change."
Over in the Cleveland locker room, guard Kyrie Irving was more certain. "I'll absolutely wear it again," he said of the black T-shirt.
For how long? "I'm not sure at this point," Irving said. "I plan on wearing it for a while."
LeBron James, the league's most prominent player and its biggest star, took pains to point out that the decision to wear the T-shirts was not an attack on law enforcement, but "a message to the family: Sorry for their loss, sorry to his wife. That's what it's about."
James seemed irritated when a reporter asked if there was a larger message.
"How larger can it be?" he said. "How larger can it be than paying respect to the family? It doesn't get any larger than that."
James also said that he and Irving did not co-ordinate their decision to take part in what became a very public statement. "We're our own men," he said.
Silver was smart enough not to bar the players from wearing the shirts, to let them have their moment to express themselves. But his statement, with its mention of the league's rules about on-court attire, seemed to leave the door open to doing so.
At this point, the players need organizational help from their players' association. Emotion is fine, and statements are fine, but as they join a growing national protest movement against police violence, the players need a game plan.
Early in her tenure as the association's executive director, Michele Roberts has set a much-needed, strident tone in her public comments about the players' relationship to the league. The words now need to be converted into action. And the first action should be making sure any player who wishes to demonstrate – not just stars such as James and Kevin Garnett, but lower-level players, too – is protected as much as possible from retaliation and intimidation.
Not every organization will be as supportive as the Cavaliers and the Nets. In James, Cleveland has the game's biggest star. The Nets' roster is filled with veterans and led by a supportive coach, Lionel Hollins.
"They should be political," Hollins said of his players. "They should be about social awareness. Basketball is just a small part of life. If they don't think that there is justice, or they feel like there is something they should protest, then they should. That is their right as citizens of America, and I have no problem with that at all."
Jack described the players' public stance as "almost like a civic duty," adding, "We want people to know that we are not oblivious to what is going on around us."
The commissioner is walking a thin line. He has a responsibility to protect the league's image, but in doing so he must ensure that he doesn't create a suffocating climate in which conscientious athletes find it hard to breathe.