Why Are There No White Superstars In The NBA?

Don't you hate articles like this?


The End Of Hope: Whiteness And The Stigma of Race In The NBA
Both home and abroad, the NBA has never been more popular. So why are there fewer white superstars than ever before?


Asthe sports world celebrates LeBron James, I’m still looking for the next Larry Bird. Though, at this point, I’d probably settle for the next John Stockton.

But I don’t want to settle. I want to watch a white American superstar lead his team to the NBA championship. I want it to happen again and again. To be able to celebrate him as we celebrated LeBron and say, without caveat or reservation, that the man is an all-time great — top 10 for sure, and arguably top-five.

I need this to happen, and I believe it can. But in order for this vision to come to pass, we need something else first: For young white players to disown — or, better still, refuse to adopt — the idea that basketball is a black man’s game.

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People don't understand this, often, but this here is what racism is.

 

Ivica Zubac

 

It says great American white players. There have been MVP white players like Dirk, Nash, etc, but they are from other countries.

 

Ah okay. Re-read the article and he's got a great point. It's quite eye-opening when you realize Kevin Love is probably the best American white player in the league.

 

Adam Silver

 

not well-reasoned, imo. the argument would be that there's a bunch of white americans out there who *could* be nba superstars, but chose instead to be accountants or something.

my professional field has a distinct lack of black males. i think the argument presented in this article is a great rationale for that: my black male students are not interested in being professors, in part because they don't see it as something they should/can do. changing that mindset could lead to more of these people finding their way into the field.

but this doesn't work for basketball, imo, where the immense physical differences between the average player and the average non-player loom large. the reason doug mcdermott isn't larry bird is not that he didn't have the right work ethic or role models. it's that he lacks the basic skills necessary to replicate bird's impact (in this case, preternatural court vision/hoop iq, and great ball skills).

i find it hard to believe that there's a few 25 year old, 6'10" white americans with great athleticism and incredible eye-hand coordination that are sacking groceries because they thought basketball was a black man's game.

 

Who cares? We love this league and all that matters is they're plenty of great players. I don't see why it's s big deal if they're white or black.

 

horacio llamas, i believe, followed closely by najera. or am i just thinking of mexican nationals? hispanic covers more territory...

 

Mark Aguirre? lol

 

I'm guessing Rolando Blackman. lol

 

you're being stereotypical. if you have an attitude towards a category (particularly in a negative direction), you're being prejudicial (racist). if you make decisions or take actions based on these things, you're discriminating.

there's actually more validity to some gender and racial stereotypes than people would like to believe. HOWEVER, using stereotypes to make decisions about single cases is a recipe for disaster. i mean, women are generally more sympathetic than men. but you shouldn't just assume that any woman is going to be more sympathetic than any man. this is why stereotypes such as those you present can be dangerous. it's in the application.

btw, the points about tennis, golf, and swimming are exactly in line with the point the author of that article was trying to make. and i think those are appropriate applications. the question is whether simply encouraging more white americans to play basketball could change the racial composition of the nba's superstar stratum. i'm saying no. so, in other words, he's using appropriate logic for some cases, but i don't think it works in this case, for the reasons i listed above.

 

The real question is - why does it matter to have white players?