Draymond Green’s teammates came to his defense after Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he “owes the NBA an apology” for suggesting that the word “owner” should be phased out of sports.
Green suggested “chairman” as an alternative term, stating that the word “owner” set a negative precedent. Green avoided questions on the subject of Cuban’s response, but Golden State forward Andre Iguodala did respond.
“I understand both sides,” Iguodala, also the vice president of the NBPA, via ESPN’s Chris Haynes. “I think Mark Cuban has the right to defend himself because he has a majority stake in an NBA team. But he’s done a great job of carrying that position with integrity, with respect, with equality to everyone who’s involved with his organization. So, I understand because he’s removed himself so far from the other incident that owners have gotten themselves in trouble with references to American historical events. So, I understand that he has to defend himself, but at the same time, he’s not able to understand what it’s like to be an African-American and certain terms being thrown around and how we feel about them.
“It’s the same as if we said a derogatory statement toward somebody who represents the [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] community. You have to be very careful with that, and any time you say something about that, you can get into real trouble. But, when it comes to us, [people] just want to say it’s about race. You understand? There’s an interesting two sides that goes with that. On one side, you’ve got to be very sensitive because they feel like they should be treated equally, but on the other side, we feel the same way, and it’s not treated the same way. I understand both sides, but I do think Mark has done a great job at running his organization and making sure everyone, no matter your color, your gender, whatever it may be that’s going on in our crazy world, that everybody is respected.”
Forward David West also backed Green.
“Cuban, I guess he’s a little sensitive about that comment,” West said. “I don’t think it’s nothing wrong with the idea that people [should] make it clear that you don’t own the player, you don’t own the individual people. You own the enterprise.”
The Warriors as a whole have been quite outspoken about the current political climate. It’s no surprise they’d have some good thoughts to share here.
