ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy addresses Derrick Rose case, domestic violence on NBA broadcast

The New York Knicks opened the 2016-17 NBA preseason Tuesday night against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. It was also the preseason debut for the Knicks’ big offseason acquisition, Derrick Rose, who started at point guard.

Tuesday’s game might be the last time Rose plays in the preseason, however. The guard is currently a defendant in a California federal civil trial alleging that he and two friends gang-raped a woman in 2013. The trial began on Tuesday.

Rose notched 16 points and five assists in his Knicks preseason debut, which was broadcast on ESPN. As the game neared its end and the subject of Rose having to go to Los Angeles for the trial came up, ESPN analyst Jeff Van Gundy didn’t talk about how the guard’s absence might affect the Knicks, but addressed the larger situation regarding sexual violence against women.

Sean Highkin transcribed Van Gundy’s remarks on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/highkin/status/783496068080164865

If you’d prefer to hear Van Gundy’s remarks as they were said on the ESPN telecast, Awful Announcing’s Matt Clapp snagged them via Clippit.

#StickToSports, Coach Van Gundy? Not for such an important issue. As Van Gundy said, this isn’t just about Rose. His civil trial is about to get underway. A jury will decide whether or not he and two of his friends committed sexual assault and will thus have to pay the accuser $21.5 million in damages.

But the fact that Rose is involved in a case like this at all calls attention to the continuing problem of violence against women committed by athletes. As Van Gundy mentioned, Darren Collison just drew an eight-game suspension for being charged with one count of domestic violence. The NBA is taking steps to address this that the NFL didn’t two years ago with the Ray Rice case.

In the waning moments of a preseason game with a blowout margin, when there was really nothing more to say from a basketball standpoint, Van Gundy took the opportunity to explain why domestic violence is an extremely important social issue that warrants attention, not just something that might keep certain athletes from playing in games and helping their respective teams win. Fans may prefer to keep their sports and news separate, but in cases like this, where the real world intrudes on sports, it absolutely has to be addressed.

Kudos for Van Gundy for doing so, while sharing some sobering reality that people need to hear and be reminded of when he had a microphone and a forum to reach a big audience.