Stephen A. Smith charges projected No. 1 NBA draft pick with ‘white privilege’
Duke forward Cooper Flagg is projected to be the No. 1 pick for the 2025 NBA Draft. It’s no surprise after his stellar freshman season, where he averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.4 blocks per game and earned the Wooden Award as the top college basketball player.
Between his two-way versatility, defensive prowess, and playmaking ability, Flagg will be a franchise cornerstone for the Dallas Mavericks, who won the lottery with a 1.8% chance and are likely to select him on June 25.
But ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith says there’s something besides just raw talent behind Flagg’s status as the projected No. 1 draft pick. White privilege is also apparently a factor in the equation.
Jason Whitlock plays the clip of Smith explaining why the Dallas Mavericks have no choice but to draft Cooper Flagg.
“When you got somebody with that kind of potential and they're white and you are in America, you keep that dude,” said Smith. “Texas is different, and in Dallas, Texas, if you got an opportunity to get Cooper Flagg, you take Cooper Flagg – especially when you just let go of Luka Dončić.”
Smith argued that being a white American superstar in the NBA, a league with few white American stars, makes Flagg highly marketable, drawing parallels to Larry Bird.
“I don't understand why ESPN allows this other than obviously they're in the racial division business like a lot of the rest of the media,” says Jason Whitlock.
“There is, for whatever reason, this undeniable urge or push for ESPN to utilize this race-baiting tactics,” adds “Fearless” contributor Jay Skapinac, host of the “Skap Attack.”
“Sports to me are the ultimate merit-based entity really. ... The best should be the ones playing; the best should be the ones picked; the best should be the ones dictating the merchandising dollars, and so forth,” he continues, noting that Smith’s suggestion that top-tier white players are rare and therefore valuable falls flat when you consider that “for five years the best player in the NBA has been Nikola Jokić by wide margin.”
To see the footage of Smith’s comments and hear more of Jason and Skap’s conversation, watch the episode above.
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Caitlin Clark attacked on and off the court; critics accuse her of ‘white privilege’
Caitlin Clark was on the receiving end of a hard foul from Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter during her WNBA game on Saturday — and it seemed the attack was for no apparent reason.
While no one is sure what prompted the attack, Sunny Hostin of “The View” has a theory.
“I do think that there is a thing called pretty privilege, there is a thing called white privilege, there is a thing called tall privilege, and we have to acknowledge that,” Hostin began.
“And so, part of it is about race because if you think about the Brittney Griners of the world, you know, why did she have to go to play in Russia, because they wouldn’t pay her,” she concluded.
Lauren Chen agrees that there is such a thing as pretty privilege and tall privilege but does not agree with Hostin’s comments about race.
“I think tall privilege is especially going to help you in the WNBA, but I just don’t understand the obsession with automatically, we have to make it about race. From what I understand, it seems like Caitlin Clark is measurably just a better player than these other women, regardless of what their race is,” Chen says.
“I think it’s just a lot easier to say, ‘Oh, well you’re only making it because you’re white,’ then just admit that ‘Yeah, you’re actually better than these other players,’” she adds.
While Chen disagrees with Hostin’s take, "The View" cohost isn’t alone in her views.
Jemele Hill also called Caitlin Clark’s fame “problematic” and about “race and sexuality.”
“We would all be very naive if we didn’t say race and her sexuality played a role in her popularity,” Hill told the L.A. Times. “While so many people are happy for Caitlin’s success — including the player; this has had such an enormous impact on the game — there is a part of it that is a little problematic because of what it says about the worth and the marketability of the players who are already there.”
“Well, maybe marketability is in part based on performance,” Chen comments. “And it kind of seems like Caitlin Clark is just a better performer regardless of her race or her sexuality.”
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