Former NBA player Stephen Jackson, who was a friend of the late George Floyd, says now is not the right time for the NBA to resume playing basketball.

"I love the NBA, that’s my family, but now ain’t the time to be playing basketball," Jackson said in a video he released Saturday on Instagram. "Playing basketball is going to do one thing: take all the attention off the task at hand right now of what we're fighting for."

"Everybody is going to be worrying about the playoffs. They’re going to have [the games] plastered all over TV, and nobody’s going to be talking about getting justice for all these senseless murders by the police. Nobody is going to be focusing on the task at hand."

Floyd, who was killed after a now-charged Minnesota police officer pressed his knee into Floyd's neck, in his death has served as a catalyst for continuous protests around the United States as well as around the world that have demanded changes to social injustices and racism.

Jackson’s comments in Saturday’s video come on the heels of reports that surfaced on Friday night that said that a group of multiple NBA players – with Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving chief among them – are not in support of the NBA season being resumed amid the protests and unrest.

"None of these white owners have spoken up," Jackson continued in the video. "None of them are taking a stand. Yeah, they might post a video when the season starts, or say what we should do, but they ain’t doing nothing."

"Playing basketball ain’t going to do nothing but make them money and take the attention of what we are fighting for; what we are marching for.

"It’s bigger than all of us. It’s bigger than the game, and I’m sad that we still have to explain that to people."

After being on hiatus since March 11 due to global coronavirus pandemic, the NBA and the players’ union both approved a 22-team return-to-play plan earlier this month, which would have the 22 best teams in the league, record-wise, resume the 2019-20 season at the Disney World resort in Orlando. As per the plan, the NBA teams are reportedly scheduled to host training camps in early July before resuming regular-season play on July 30.