by Mildred Europa Taylor, Face2FaceAfrica.com
Former NBA star Jalen Rose believes there is a “residue of slavery” in Black-led sports like basketball and football, largely due to how players are handled.
During a recent appearance on a live recording of the “Joe and Jada Unfiltered” podcast, the 53-year-old said leagues like the National Basketball Association and the National Football League, which have more Black players, impose restrictions on these players, adding that such restrictions are not seen in other sports that are not Black-centric.
“The only sports that have salary caps are Black-led first off. So that’s basketball and football,” Rose noted. “Those are the only sports with salary caps. Baseball, golf, NASCAR, tennis, you can keep naming. They do not have a salary cap. That’s the first thing. The second thing is they have no after-high school restriction.
“And so that’s a residue of slavery, because we’re gonna get money off of you for multiple years for free.”
His comments come on the back of concerns that while the NBA has earned applause for diversity in its workforce and coaching staff, ownership remains primarily white. Black players make up 70% of the players, but non-white owners make up around 13%, figures show.
What is also worrying for many people is the fact that the NBA also has a salary cap and does not allow players to enter the league right after high school. Per the rules, players must be at least 19 years old and at least 12 months removed from their high school graduation. Many players are therefore compelled to spend a gap year in college, where, previously, players received no financial compensation beyond scholarships despite bringing in billions of dollars for the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Recent NIL reforms changed that, allowing college players to be paid.
Rose argued that the changes occurred only after the rise of social media. “What happened in the game is that it became so obvious because of social media and because of information, it’s like ‘we’re making billions of dollars, we gotta pay ’em something,’” Rose explained.
The NBA great said he is, however, excited that college players now receive compensation through NIL deals, “but if you notice, the NBA still got a salary cap. The National Football League still got a salary cap.”
Rose, a sports analyst and former professional basketball player, was a member of the University of Michigan Wolverines’ “Fab Five” that reached the 1992 and 1993 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship games as both freshmen and sophomores. From college, Rose went on to have a 13-year NBA career playing for six teams, including the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, and New York Knicks.
In 2015, he released a New York Times Bestseller, Got to Give the People What They Want.