Is the NBA so politically correct that its teams would drop the term "owner" for fear of off of offending the sensitivities of its mostly African American players? There's no actual pressure from the league to force teams to drop the term, but that didn't stop media sensationalists from making it a big issue Tuesday. TMZ Sports and Newsweek Sports both reported on the possibility of it becoming reality.
TMZ reported Monday that the Philadelphia 76ers and Los Angeles Clippers have already dropped the O word, and said multiple teams could join in "softening the tone of the person's title who controls the business franchise.
"We're told the conversations essentially center around the idea that the term, owner — in a league where the majority of the players are black — feels racially insensitive," TMZ's unbylined story reads.
TMZ and Newsweek had to go back to old comments about a so-called racist analogy of the word "owner" by Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors. He started talking about in 2017 and picked up the topic again in 2018 on LeBron James' internet show The Shop. Why it's suddenly an issue for the media in 2019 is unknown, and the timing certainly smacks of a media agenda.
Green, who's no "slave" at $17 million in salary this season, said the word "owner" is inappropriate because it dates back to slavery, when white men owned black slaves. "When you think of a basketball team, nobody thinks of the f---in' Golden State Warriors and think of that damn bridge. They think of the players that make that team... you don't even know what the f--- [the bridge] is called." Furthermore, he said:
"Very rarely do we take the time to rethink something and say, 'Maybe that's not the way.' Just because someone was taught that 100 years ago doesn't make that the right thing today. And so, when you look at the word 'owner,' it really dates back to slavery. The word 'owner,' 'master' — it dates back to slavery... we just took the words and we continued to put it to use."
In Scott McDonald's Newsweek story, he writes that the NBA refers to its owners as "governors" who jointly serve on its Board of Governors. Nevertheless, he repeated TMZ's line about racial insensitivity and Green's race-baiting remarks.
McDonald reported opposition to such a change from one white NBA team owner. The Dallas Mavericks' Mark Cuban is demanding an apology from Green, saying NBA teams own equity, not people. He made his remarks to ESPN's Tim McMahon:
"For him to try to turn it into something it's not is wrong. He owes the NBA an apology. I think he does, because to try to create some connotation that owning equity in a company that you busted your ass for is the equivalent of ownership in terms of people, that's just wrong. That's just wrong in every which way.
"People who read that message and misinterpret it — make it seem like we don't do everything possible to help our players succeed and don't care about their families and don't care about their lives, like hopefully we do for all of our employees — that's just wrong."
Cuban called the connection of the word "owner" to slavery an invention that 'deliberately downplays the roles owners have in caring for team members and their families."
In the era of woke protesting athletes and their sycophant media lackeys, the idea of racially tainting the word "owner" makes for "good copy'' for media sensationalists.
