Rusty Weiss
The NBA has long positioned itself as a global powerhouse in professional sports, driven by international talent and expanding markets worldwide. However, ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith sparked controversy on Tuesday by accusing the league of using globalization as a means to “whiten” the sport.
Smith was piggybacking on comments Kevin Durant made to ESPN. The pair has suggested an underlying motive for the league beyond profitability. Mainly, forcing a broader appeal beyond dominance by black players.
Durant took issue with the narrative that the European game is becoming better than the American game.
“I just don’t like the talk around the USA versus European style of how you approach the game,” he said. “All I hear is, ‘AAU is destroying the game; the Euros do it right while the Americans do it wrong.'”
“It’s a lot of bulls— with that. I can read between the lines on that. It’s a shot at Black Americans. We’re controlling the sport. They’re tired of us controlling the sport.”
Stephen A Smith Claims NBA Globalization Is Whitening the League
Smith said he “1000%” agrees with the sentiment and said “white America” can direct their ire for such a claim in his direction.
“These men have supported these brothers,” Smith said of current NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and his predecessor David Stern. “But America hasn’t always done so.”
“America, when you talk about globalizing the sport, certainly, money has a lot to do with it. But the other part in globalizing your brand is whitening the sport too.”
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Smith went so far as to suggest one of the greatest rivalries in the sport’s history was a manufactured one by featuring Larry Bird. It’s more proof that for every one smart thing Smith may say in his commentary, it’s almost always dragged down by two or three truly dumb takes.
“You didn’t have enough white American players to excel on a level that could make the sport more profitable, and you had to rely on the brothers, it’s why Magic Johnson was so important because of that magnetic smile that invited you into the living room, but even still, you still paired him with Larry Bird to promote the sport,” he continued.
“So to globalize the sport, to have guys who were white European superstars is something that the NBA might have capitalized off of lovingly so because of profitability issues,” added Smith. “But America and the world as a whole, ingratiated itself with the NBA product because you saw folks who were white, even though they weren’t from America.”
Listen to this, and you will see why race-baiting ESPN now has terrible ratings!!
— HeroOfTheDay (@Hero_OfThe_Day) February 24, 2026
Stephen A. Smith says the NBA is ‘whitening’ the sport by globalizing the game w/ European players 🤡🤡
Now you see why so many of them hate Luka Doncic??
(@FirstTake)pic.twitter.com/momd2DUpMV
All of this is nonsense, as many NBA insiders have been extremely slow to embrace the European game, referring to their players as soft for decades. That includes Smith, who has insisted “an international player” can not “be the face of the NBA.”
Former Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas said the NBA needed to “get rid of all Europeans” except for Giannis Antetokounmpo and Rudy Gobert.
Any guesses why he singled out those two?
GILBERT ARENAS SAYS :
— BLACK FLAG 💨🏴🇺🇸 (@FlagBlack007) March 4, 2024
THE EUROPEANS RUINED DEFENCE IN THE NBA . 🤣😂Thoughts 💭 ? pic.twitter.com/EfyiSNqXI2
The NBA, which has embraced woke culture and “Black Lives Matter” messaging over the past several years, most assuredly isn’t engaged in some deliberate, race-based scheme to “whiten” the league.
Smith’s argument collapses under basic logic.