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Sports chatter: WNBA’s Renee Montgomery won’t play in 2020 to keep focus on social justice reform; Chargers interested in Colin Kaepernick?

Renee Montgomery joins her former UConn teammate Maya Moore as WNBA players focusing on social justice reform.

Renee Montgomery has spent time with Minnesota, Connecticut, Seattle and Atlanta in her 11-year WNBA career. (Jeff Wheeler/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)
Renee Montgomery has spent time with Minnesota, Connecticut, Seattle and Atlanta in her 11-year WNBA career. (Jeff Wheeler/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)Read moreJeff Wheeler / MCT

Atlanta Dream guard Renee Montgomery believes that now isn’t the time to lose the grip on shedding light on social injustices and creating change. So she will sit out the 2020 season.

Montgomery tweeted on her account that much more work needs to be done in what will be a long process.

“Social justice reform isn’t going to happen overnight but I do feel that now is the time and Moments equal Momentum. Lets keep it going!” Montgomery said in part of her statement on Twitter.

Her decision comes three days after the WNBA announced it would return in July at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.

Some in the basketball community — like Kyrie Irving and Stephen Jackson — believe that the sport would be a distraction to the current movement.

“I love the NBA, but now ain’t the time to be playing basketball,” Jackson said on Instagram. “Playing basketball is going to take all the attention off the task at hand right now and what we fighting for.”

Montgomery is joining Maya Moore in sitting out the 2020 season. Moore, one of the WNBA’s best players, will be sitting out for the second straight year.

Moore has been a major public advocate for social justice reform. She started a social campaign called “Win with Justice” that helps minorities get the proper help to fight a case.

Moore and Montgomery were also teammates for two seasons at UConn, where they capped off their final season together (Montgomery was a senior, Moore a sophomore) with a 39-0 record and no single-digit scoring games in 2008-09.

In 11 WNBA seasons, Montgomery has averaged 9.7 points per game. She started 68 games in the last two seasons for the Dream.

Could Chargers give Colin Kaepernick a workout?

Los Angeles Chargers coach Anthony Lynn believes NFL teams “would be crazy” not to give Colin Kaepernick a workout. Lynn’s team just lost its starting quarterback of the last 14 years, Phillip Rivers, so maybe he should prove that the Chargers aren’t crazy.

Tyrod Taylor is expected to be the Chargers’ starter. He has been a quality backup and at times a good starter in his career, including a Pro Bowl season with the Bills in 2015.

The Chargers drafted Oregon’s Justin Herbert in the first round to be their future quarterback, but Taylor and Kaepernick would be quality mentors for the rookie.

“Colin definitely fits the style of quarterback for the system that we’re going to be running,” Lynn said to reporters on Wednesday. “I’m very confident and happy with the three quarterbacks that I have, but you can never have too many people waiting on the runway.”