94 TIME December 21/December 28, 2020
passion was, and how we were going to deliver.”
On June 23, James launched the nonprofi t More
Than a Vote, with a single-minded focus on getting
more people to the polls. The group pushed for sports
arenas to be used as polling places on the grounds that
they could allow for social distancing while accommo-
dating large numbers of voters. In the hope of keep-
ing lines moving and locations open, they recruited
young people to replace older poll workers who were
sidelined by fears of COVID-19. By August, nearly 50
athletes, entertainers and media fi gures—including
WNBA player and ESPN host Chiney Ogwumike and
NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Odell Beckham Jr.—
had signed on as founding members. The organiza-
tion partnered with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund,
and by Election Day, less than fi ve months after its
founding, had helped recruit more than 40,000 elec-
tion workers nationally and in places like Atlanta,
Milwaukee, Detroit and Philadelphia—all cities
that helped deliver key swing states to Joe Biden.
At every step, James supported the work by re-
cruiting fellow athletes to the cause, promoting More
Than a Vote to his more than 48 million followers
on Twitter and turning himself into a billboard by
wearing a VOTE OR DIE! shirt to a practice. It was
the highest-profi le example of the surge in activism
that spread across the sports world in 2020. Spurred
by a pandemic that has disproportionately taken the
lives and livelihoods of people of color and by police
killings of unarmed Black Americans, everyone from
college athletes to tennis stars to race-car drivers to
hockey players did things like speak out against racial
injustice, join marches and even lead the temporary
shutdowns of major sporting events. Indeed, the NBA
playoff s might well have never fi nished had James not
decided to stay in the league’s Disney World “bubble”
and see the season through.
“Not only is he the best player, but he has the most
powerful voice,” says tennis champion Naomi Osaka.
During her run to the U.S. Open title in September,
she wore masks honoring seven Black Americans
killed in recent years, including Trayvon Martin,
Tamir Rice and Breonna Taylor.
After nearly two decades in the NBA, James has
fully embraced that his talent on the court is a means
to achieving something greater off it. And this year,
more than in any before it, he showed why he is unri-
valed in both. Despite misgivings, James played on in
the bubble and led the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA
championship—his fi rst with the team and fourth
overall. By staying, James increased his leverage and
infl uence, and got deep-pocketed owners, fellow ath-
letes and fans the world over engaged directly with
democracy. And through it all, he spoke personally
to the anguish of Black Americans, channeling pain
and outrage into a plan of action.
More Than a Vote did not endorse a political can-
didate. But James believes the result of his organiza-
tion’s work in the election—Donald Trump’s removal
from offi ce—will ease some of the tumult of the past
four years. “At the end of the day, when you’re going
through adversity or you’re going through anything in
life, the one person that you believe you can count on
is the person that’s in the captain’s seat,” says James,
who knows from occupying his team’s top chair. “He
can always keep everything calm, make people feel
like no matter what we’re going through, we’re going
to make it through. And I believe, as Americans, we
didn’t feel that over the last four years. We always felt
like we were in the ocean, and the waves are crashing
against our boat, and the thunderstorms are coming
down. So I believe that our people just got tired of
not feeling a sense of calmness, and they went out
and used their right to vote.”
Despite all this eff ort, a large swath of America
would still prefer that James just “shut up and drib-
ble,” as a pundit once put it. When asked if he had
anything to say to such critics, he chuckles. “You hear
my laugh?” James says. “There it is. That is my direct
message to them.”THIS WAVE OF ACTIVISM crested on Aug. 26, when
the Milwaukee Bucks declined to take the fl oor three
days after police in Kenosha, Wis., shot Jacob Blake
seven times in the back. Even in a year that shat-
tered all norms, a wildcat strike—in the playoff s—
seemed unfathomable. Then the WNBA, NHL, pro
tennis, and teams in Major League Baseball and
Major League Soccer all took a pause too. Sports,
with the support of most team owners and league of-
fi cials, had been forced to a halt in support of Black
lives. “I respect the hell out of them for doing that,”
John Carlos, the American sprinter who raised his
fi st along with Tommie Smith on the medals stand
at the 1968 Olympics, told TIME on the evening of
the Bucks’ walkout. “Because you have to squeeze the
toothpaste tube to get people to respond.”
Momentum had been building all summer.
When the WNBA started its delayed season in July,
the players publicly dedicated it to Taylor, a Lou-
isville, Ky., medical worker killed by police in a
botched raid of her home. After Republican Sena-
tor Kelly Loeffl er, a co-owner of the Atlanta Dream,
called Black Lives Matter “divisive” and “Marxist”
in July, many players started wearing shirts back-
ing her opponent, the Rev. Raphael Warnock. The
month before, NASCAR had announced a formal
ban on Confederate fl ags at its events and proper-
ties after Bubba Wallace, the lone Black driver in
the top series, spoke out about the discomfort the
fl ags caused. The night the Bucks took their stand,
Osaka, who marched in Minneapolis following
George Floyd’s death, withdrew from the semifi nals
of the Western & Southern Open in similar protest.
Rather than make her forfeit, the tournament sus-
pended play in solidarity.2020 Athlete of the Year