In this predominantly African-American league, Kevin Love and JJ Redick describe subtle racism that takes place against white athletes.
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Back in the 60s when segregation was still rampant in the US, black athletes were treated differently from their white teammates. They often couldn’t eat at the same restaurant after a tiring game. NBA legends like Bill Russell, Oscar Robertson and many others made considerable efforts to bring about a change and they ultimately did.
Things are very different now with African-Americans thriving in the league. It sometimes leads to slightly racist remarks aimed towards the very few white athletes left in the NBA. However, it doesn’t invite the same kind of criticism that the use of the ‘N word’ might.
Fans complain about the way both situations are handled. But Kevin Love and JJ Redick try to explain why these two situations are inherently different from each other.
Kevin Love never found these comments even remotely racist
Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has spent 14 years in the NBA. The 5x all-star was once a great player but injuries took their toll on him. After almost three years Love has been healthy throughout the duration of the regular season.
He has spent his entire high school, college, and pro basketball career surrounded by black athletes. Comments like ‘bitch-ass white boy’, ‘puck-ass white boy’ and ‘s-m-i-d white boy’ were very common growing up according to him. But K’Love never found them offensive or racist. He took them in competitive spirit.
“I’ve been called a bitch-ass white boy a lot. You can relate to that it’s just it’s funny. I don’t take any offense to that, not even as a 13-year-old guy. It is just in the spirit of competition.”
JJ Redick went on to point out how Montrezl Harrell called Luka Doncic a ‘bitch-ass white boy’ during the 2020 playoffs. Especially with the Black Live Matter movement at its height, the comments were not received well by the fans. But Inside the NBA’s Kenny Smith did a great job of explaining why it’s different from using the N-word.
Kevin Love ad JJ Reddick whole-heartedly agreed with the analogy given by the TNT analyst. Although these things are uttered in a competitive spirit it’s best to avoid using them. Because at the end of the day it is racially motivated as it insinuates that white people are not as athletic as black people.
