White LA Lakers Noticeable, Not a Problem
Just as we can’t help noticing that more than 80 percent of NBA players are black, it’s impossible to be oblivious when a team can put five white players on the court. Especially white American-born players, who are outnumbered in the league by Europeans.
ESPN’s J.A. Adande pointed out the obvious about the Los Angeles Lakers Lakers in a column that drew 900 comments and counting.
It figures that the topics of skin color and the NBA would attract such attention. As the late tennis great Arthur Ashe said in the 1989 NBC News special Black Athletes — Fact and Fiction, the issue of race in sports is “a sociological red button.”