Some NBA teams have recently shied away from calling the majority shareholder of a franchise the team’s “owner,” and that is a trend that could continue across the league in the coming years.
According to a report from TMZ, several teams have had conversations among their high-ranking executives about no longer using the terms “owner” or “team owner.” The idea is that the phrasing sounds racially insensitive in a league where most of the players are black. Teams have apparently been discussing the issue since it became a topic of conversation on LeBron James’ HBO Show “The Shop” last year.
During that episode, Jon Stewart argued that when the “product is purely the labor of people then ‘owner’ sounds like something that is of a futile nature.” Snoop Dogg disagreed and said he wants to be known as the owner of things he owns, while Draymond Green enthusiastically argued that the term is disrespectful.
As TMZ notes, Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer is referred to as the Chairman of the team on its official website. The Philadelphia 76ers also made some adjustments around the time the show aired, now referring to their majority owners as Managing Partners and co-owners as Limited Partners. For what it’s worth, the Golden State Warriors still list Joe Lacob as their owner.
While there has reportedly been no pressure from the NBA for teams to shy away from using the term owner, a league spokesperson told TMZ the NBA officially refers to owners as Governors.
“We refer to the owners of our teams as Governors; each team is represented on our Board of Governors,” the spokesperson said.
It’s no surprise Ballmer is sensitive to the concerns of players like Green, as the Clippers became available for him to purchase following a major racism scandal with previous owner Donald Sterling. We can probably expect more teams to follow suit going forward.
