Stan Van Gundy is back in the NBA, and he is looking forward to continuing to push the NBA in a ridiculous political direction.
Van Gundy, now the head coach of the New Orleans Pelicans, told ESPN that all white people are racist. “We’re the ones that are racist,” he said. “It’s a white person’s problem that affects people of color, and so, we’re the ones who have to change.”
He later added, “I’m a poster boy for white privilege.”
On the latter point, we can all agree. Van Gundy has been coaching basketball since 1981, making millions in the process. His new stint in New Orleans comes after a two-year break from the league, where he served as an NBA analyst after a mediocre stint coaching the Detroit Pistons.
The rest of his absurd comments are typical social-justice dogma: All white people are racist, only white people can only harm people of color, but not the other way around, and white people need to change. It’s the same toxic, race-obsessed worldview that has infected the sports world this year and had been brewing in the NBA for longer.
Van Gundy’s political preening is made worse by the fact that he thinks China should be excused for its ongoing genocide against the Uighurs because the United States used to have slavery and didn’t let women vote. According to him, opposing concentration camps that are currently in operation in China is an attempt to distract from the injustices in the U.S. that took place decades ago.
The NBA can’t put the cat back in the bag with its social-justice push, no matter how detrimental it is to its viewership numbers. By indulging players as they pointlessly delayed games and demanded the league take symbolic stands, the NBA has fully committed itself to the divisiveness of figures such as Van Gundy or everyone’s favorite Chinese propagandist, LeBron James.
Van Gundy is going to continue to spout off his juvenile political opinions, as is LeBron. The same is true for Gregg Popovich, Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, and all of the rest of the NBA’s wannabe politicians, who will all conveniently ignore that the world’s worst human rights abuser is helping pay their salaries. Their toxicity is going to continue to drive fans away. The NBA is no longer about entertainment: It’s about political lectures and race-based public shaming.
