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The NBA is largely growing as one of the most diverse professional sports leagues and hopes to build a progressive relationship with the league’s lead executives and their players. While the Association is aiming to grow between the players and the owners that represent the teams, a number of team officials are pursuing to abolish the term “owner” altogether for more suitable titles, TMZ reports.
While it isn’t an official stance of the NBA, a number of high-level executives in the league have had conversations about the term and at least two teams have made changes. Los Angeles Clippers Chairman Steve Ballmer was once billed as the owner before changing the title in early 2018. The Philadelphia 76ers changed their titles from owners to “Limited Managing Partners,” with these changes coming shortly after a clip on LeBron James’ HBO series, The Shop.
It was there when Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green had an objection to the “owner” term, expressing that it aligns with the “slavemaster mentality” that is tied to the racial disparity in the NFL.
“You shouldn’t say owner,” Green said. “When you think of a basketball team like nobody thinks of the fucking Golden State Warriors and think of that damn bridge. They think of the players that make up that team.”
While Joe Lacob is still listed as the Warriors owner, a spokesperson for the team tells TMZ that they “refer to the owners of our teams as Governors; each team is represented on our Board of Governors.”
Owners No More? NBA Teams Looking to Rid the ‘Owner’ Term in the Front Office was originally published on cassiuslife.com
