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Recently, the term “Team Owners” has come under controversy in the NBA as some NBA players believe it refers to slavery. Professional sports teams and their associated names have been no stranger to the news as the debate continues with what to call certain minority groups. The biggest example of this came in 2014 when the Washington Redskins came under scrutiny for the use of their logo and name as it relates to Native Americans.
On one hand, it is no secret that the majority of players in the NBA are African American and so, therefore, the term can be viewed as racially insensitive. The term “owner” brings about bad memories for African American people. Draymond Green from the Golden State Warriors feels this way saying that “Just because someone was taught that way 100 years ago doesn’t make that the right things today.”
On the other hand, players have no right to feel oppressed because they are getting paid millions of dollars a year to play basketball on an NBA team. They are in fact employees of the teams and therefore there’s no oppression. The term “owners” has been around for centuries and just because African American players feel that the word brings about memories of slavery does not mean that it should be changed. Especially when none of the players were ever slaves themselves.
What do you think?