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Newsweek: Race, Respect and the NBA
http://www.newsweek.com/nw-srv/printed/us/so/sp0225_3.htm
SPORTS
Race, Respect and the NBA
Conflicts over money and control have kept the
lockout going. But
there's been another X-factor: the divide between
white owners and
black players.
By Allison Samuels
At Magic Johnson's annual Christmas bash last week
in Los Angeles, the
mood couldn't have been more festive. Johnson
playfully belted out hits by
Al Green, while groups of NBA players mixed with
the elite of black
Hollywood. Yet as the NBA lockout reached its 162d
day, some players
shared words of frustration and anxiety. "It's hard
getting used to being
home this time of year," said Laker guard Derek
Fisher. A little later, with
the deejay spinning the rap hits of the Notorious
B.I.G., some began to
speak more pointedly about one of the hidden
tensions underlying the
lockout: race. "I think a lot of my peers have a
chip on their shoulder with
the white owners," said one top star. "I agree with
that, up to the point that
it hurts us. It's time to play."
Early last week it was still ugly ball. Superagent
David Falk's company
announced that a charity game scheduled for Dec. 19
would benefit both
UNICEF and the players union, whose average member
earns $2.6
million per year. When critics blasted the players
for putting their needs
alongside those of starving children, the
organizers said UNICEF would
get the whole take. But the PR damage was done.
Most disheartening, the
league canceled this season's all-star game.
The two sides have had serious issues to resolve.
The players want to
increase their percentage of gross revenues; the
owners want it reduced
from the current 57 percent. That and the "Larry
Bird exception," which
allows teams to pay their own veteran free agents
in excess of the salary
cap (the owners want it eliminated), are still the
biggest points of
contention. But many players say that racial
tensions are exacerbating the
adversarial spirit of the talks. In locker rooms
around the league last year,
a popular hit was the rap "Money, Power and
Respect," by Lil' Kim and
the Lox. Now some players complain that's exactly
what the mainly white
owners don't want them to have. The current labor
battle, they say, is not
just for money and control of their craft, but for
their manhood. "At this
point, it's about power and respect," says the
soft-spoken San Antonio
Spurs guard Avery Johnson, who has attended many
bargaining sessions.
"That's what both sides are fighting for, and
that's where we're stalled."
League Commissioner David Stern denies that race
has been an issue.
"This is a collective-bargaining dispute--no more,
no less," he says. The
owners are not permitted to talk to the press
during negotiations. But for
many players, racial tensions between the
predominantly black athletes
and predominantly white owners have long been a
quiet reality. For years
this was tempered by millions of dollars made and
continuous crossover
success. Now there's been a breakdown. "I think
there is a perception
from the owners to even some fans that we're blacks
who should be
happy with what we got, fair or not," says Miami
Heat center Alonzo
Mourning, a key member of the negotiating team.
"There's a lack of
respect given us in large part because we're
athletes. I'm not saying it's all
about race because it's not--but it plays a
factor." Many players say lack
of respect for them filters into the negotiations.
"I think the owners look at
us as black, ghetto guys with tons of money that we
don't deserve," says
New Jersey Net Sam Cassell, who has also attended
meetings.
As an example of this lack of respect, players
point to a 1997 salary
negotiation between Michael Jordan and Chicago
Bulls owner Jerry
Reinsdorf. As Jordan recounts in his book "For the
Love of the Game,"
when he and Reinsdorf signed a contract
guaranteeing the superstar $30
million to play the following season, the owner
told Jordan, "At some point
in time, I know I'm going to regret what we just
did." Jordan was livid,
calling it "a punch in the heart." The other
players took it just as personally.
"Just think about that being said to the greatest
player of the game, who's
brought in tons of money to the league," says
Mourning. "If they feel that
way about him, how do you think they feel about the
rest of us?"
(Reinsdorf could not be reached for comment.)
The players bring the weight of such insults to the
bargaining table. At their
worst, meetings have broken down to heated
exchanges of profanities,
with tempers flaring on both sides. "We're going in
there with chips on our
shoulder because we feel we're being treated like
meat," says one player.
"And it's definitely more maddening because of our
pasts as black people.
I'm not saying it's right to have that
attitude--I'm saying it's inevitable."
In a society where more young black men are housed
in prisons than in
boardrooms or college campuses, respect is
essential for those fortunate
enough to forge a different type of life, says
Harvard clinical psychiatrist
Alvin Pouissant. "Many of these young men are
coming from backgrounds
where they were taught they weren't deserving or
equal. When they think
they've proved otherwise, any slight is considered
a major disapproval of
them and what they've accomplished."
Stern argues that the league has long battled on
behalf of the players
against the same stereotyping with which it's being
charged now. In 1979
few people believed in the prospects of a league
whose players were
predominantly black, says Stern. Then, "myself and
the players proved
them wrong. I've spent the last 20 years telling
the world that these are
gifted entertainers who are entitled to what the
system allows." Billy
Hunter, the players union executive director,
contends that any disconnect
between the camps is more generational than racial.
"But I will say that I
think a lot of people are surprised to see these
young black men stand up
for their principles and that it's not all about
money."
By the end of the week, there were hopeful signs.
Avoiding the
contentious atmosphere of big group meetings, Stern
and his deputy Russ
Granik met secretly twice with Hunter and union
president Patrick Ewing.
After the week's bad publicity, league sources
said, both sides were
inspired to get a deal done.
Former Laker Norm Nixon, now an agent, says the
players should keep
their eyes on the prize. "Race is a problem in this
country, but this is about
business--pure and simple capitalism. A lot of
young players obsess about
being dissed, but this is about the future of the
game."
As they danced, laughed and mingled at Magic's party, some players
reasoned that a change in attitude--all
around--could get both sides a lot
further. "This not-giving-in-to-'the man' don't
mean s--t if we're losing the
fans and the shirts off our backs," said one
player. "The owners could give
in a little, too. They're acting as though they
don't want to give in to a
bunch of black guys--so all around it's really a
pissing match."
Does anyone ever win those?
"Owners think we're blacks who should be happy with
what we got.
I'm not saying it's all about race, but it plays a
factor."
--Alonzo Mourning, Miami Heat star center
"The fight is about salaries and profits. This is a
simple
collective-bargaining dispute--no more, no less."
--David Stern, NBA commissioner
"We're men fighting to be dealt with like men, and
this is about that
on every level."
--Sam Cassell, New Jersey Nets guard
Newsweek, December 21, 1998