Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and Walker Kessler of the Los Angeles Lakers are statistically the best overall trio in the NBA this season. Yet ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith says the trio isn’t good enough to win a championship.
He doesn’t cite their play as the reason, but rather their skin color.
“I do not think [the Lakers] are getting past the second round. I’d be shocked if they did. I am on the record being controversially because I’ve never seen an NBA team with its top players being White deliver a championship. It’s never happened. And I’m here to tell you I don’t think it’s going to happen this year.
“You can bring up whoever the hell you want,” Smith said. “There has never been, in my lifetime, an NBA team led with its top three players being White that delivered you a championship when an abundance of brothers [are] playing basketball. That hasn’t happened. And I’m here to tell you it ain’t gonna happen. I can’t see it coming.”
Oh.
Smith first made this argument in July, though he presented it differently. Then, he claimed he had “never seen” a team with three White stars win a championship. He clarified that he never said it “couldn’t” happen.
This time, he repeatedly dismissed the possibility of a team winning a championship led by “three White dudes.”
Smith provides no basketball explanation for why three White players can’t lead a team to a title. That’s likely because there isn’t one. His premise doesn’t withstand even mild scrutiny.
The simplest explanation for why an all-White Big 3 has yet to win a championship is the racial breakdown of the NBA. White players make up roughly 17% of the league, compared with about 75% for Black players. Fewer white players means fewer White stars, making it less likely that three will play on the same team.
It’s really that simple.
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It’s the same reason an NFL team has never won a Super Bowl with a Black quarterback, Black head coach and Black general manager.
Imagine using that data point to argue a team must have at least a White coach or general manager to win a Super Bowl. Smith would be among the first commentators to denounce you as a racist if you made that argument.
Racial double standards are real. They are obvious.
Therefore, Smith will not face any considerable backlash for his comments about the Lakers. Society has decided that Black people are permitted to make racist, belittling comments about White people – just not the other way around.
It’s why former NBA player Charlie Villanueva can casually claim Doncic cannot be the best player in a “Black league.” It’s why WNBA players could just as casually claim Caitlin Clark needed to pay her respects to the Black women before her.
There is a particularly notable use of possessive language when certain Black basketball players discuss their White counterparts. They often use the term “ours” when discussing the NBA and WNBA. The implication is that White players are allowed to participate but ought to know their place.
It’s no different from activist and social media influencer Dr. Umar Johnson’s recent dismissal of Eminem’s place in hip-hop history. In Johnson’s view, hip-hop also belongs to Black people.
“No non-African can ever be the best of anything African. It’s an insult to the ancestors. It’s an insult to the race, and it’s an insult to every Black person,” Johnson said. “Eminem has all the privileges of a White male and all the privileges of being in the hip-hop community, so we got to be careful about letting non-Africans into our community.”
Wait, who has privilege again? The people accused of it, or the people exhibiting it with racially charged rhetoric toward the opposite race?
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Combating supposed racism with coordinated racism is not the answer. Racism will never go away if certain people feel emboldened to spread it.
Finally, there is an amusing flaw in Smith’s assessment of the Lakers’ championship aspirations. Despite the league-leading production from Doncic, Reaves, and Kessler, the Lakers have just the 10th-best championship odds.
The concern is the supporting cast around them. That cast is entirely Black.
If Stephen A. insists on blaming the Lakers’ championship limitations on the race of certain players, he’s blaming the wrong group.
It’s not the “White dudes” holding them back.