ESPN host Stephen A. Smith walked off of the set of ESPN’s First Take after he slammed NBA players for not protesting the Celtics’s decision to promote head coach Brad Stevens, who is white, to a front office role instead of a black candidate.
“NBA players are some of the most powerful people in this world, when have they spoken up for black coaches?” Smith asked on Wednesday. “When?! When have they spoken up for black coaches and black executives, GMs, president of basketball operations? When has that happened? LeBron, all of them, everybody! Where the hell have they been? Nobody has done anything.”
Smith suggested that the NBA had a larger problem with diversity, citing the Brooklyn Nets’s decision to hire Steve Nash for a head coaching role in September, despite Nash’s lack of coaching experience while Phil Handy, who is black, has been an assistant coach for eight years.
“Steve Nash never coached on any level. And not only does he get the job, but he gets the job with the full support of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, who, by the way, never insisted that a black candidate be interviewed.”
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The NBA consistently ranks ahead of other professional sports leagues on racial diversity. A league diversity report found that African Americans made up 74.2% of players, 23.3% of head coaches, and 39.4% of league office staff.
Smith tied the diversity to the protests following George Floyd’s murder last year, arguing that it shed a light on the problem of black people in the United States being “minimized” and “undervalued.”
“We’re supposed to be woke. We’re supposed to understand that that knee on George Floyd’s neck wasn’t just about violence and police brutality. It was also the figurative semblance that it provided, where you’re feeling like constantly, people have their knee on your neck since the time you’ve come out of the womb,” Smith said. “From a figurative perspective, what we witnessed and what got the nation up and just inspired was because what we saw was symptomatic and emblematic of how we feel as a people — consistently being marginalized, consistently being minimized, consistently being under-appreciated, undervalued.”
After expressing his frustration with the league and individual players, Smith took off his microphone and walked off set, saying he was “scared” he would “say something that might get me in trouble. Because I’m pissed. I’m pissed!”
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In a different segment on Wednesday, Smith questioned whether Stevens deserved the promotion after a “shaky” season with the Celtics.
“You’re a question mark as a coach in some people’s eyes, including in Boston. But somehow, someway, you’re moving upstairs. And the paucity of opportunities for African Americans continue to dwindle and dwindle and dwindle.”
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