https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2021/03/29/black-coaches-giving-nba-mixed-grades-hiring-front/6947526002/
The NBA has empowered its players and coaches by supporting theirdesire to address social injustices. Yet, the NBA has struggled with solving one of its own shortcomings.
“You look at the dichotomy between players, coaches and front office ownership representation. The percentages don’t match,” Denver Nuggets associate head coach Wes Unseld Jr. told USA TODAY Sports. “The NBA is by far more forward thinking, more proactive and more diverse and inclusive than the other sports leagues. But I think it still has a ways to go.”
Among the 30 NBA teams, there are four majority owners that are minorities and four women that have team ownership positions. There are 10 Black general managers, one Latino president of Basketball Operations and one Asian general manager. And there are zero women head coaches, seven Black head coaches and eight women assistant coaches.
“The only way it changes is if the decision-making field gets more diverse,” Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Darvin Ham told USA TODAY Sports.
Scrutiny has intensified specifically surrounding the number of Black NBA head coaches for reasons beyond more attention this past year on the country’s racial inequalities.
The NBA previously had eight Black head coaches at the beginning of the 2018-19 season and 14 during the 2012-13 season. That hardly matches the Black representation elsewhere. Out of the league's 185 assistant-coaching positions, 85 of the coaches are people of color. Meanwhile, 74.2% of the NBA players are Black.
“These numbers are just disgraceful. It doesn’t make any sense,” National Basketball Players Association executive directorMichele Roberts told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s not as if no one is doing anything at all. It’s not as if teams aren’t uttering the right words. But the players are seeing it. I’m hearing people talk about both publicly and privately that these numbers don’t make sense.”
What will it take for these numbers to improve? What will it take for these numbers to become stable? And what will it take for these numbers to result in better inclusion?
“It’s going to take certainly more than we’re doing now,” NBA CommissionerAdam Silver said recently on a conference call. “We’ve made progress over the years. But we’re constantly looking at how we can do better.”