Pandering To Race In The NBA

Jeremy Lin is a good player, an NBA quality starter type player, but that won’t be why he will be paid $15 million dollars a year this season. Lin’s marketing appeal to Chinese fans both internationally and in the United States drove his 3 year, $25 million contract. There’s nothing wrong with this approach. Its smart business. The trouble comes if  pandering takes precedence over winning or comes at the expense of another part of the team’s fan base. That’s Levenson’s misdeed.

Sports teams will continue to break up their fans into demographic groups and target those areas where they seem to be lacking. What will be learned from this public relations fiasco will be to not disrespect the fans you do have in seeking to attract  new fans from a different segment of the society.

The whole situation kinda makes you look back on the media attention given last year to Kyle Korver‘s three point streak with the Hawks. Was that campaign a purposeful attempt to highlight Korver’s contributions over that of say Paul Milsap? This is what the NBA should be worried about.

The NBA strives to be all inclusive yet it is hypersensitive to the fact that it is selling a game featuring mostly black players. It needs look for the common ground in society instead of grasping for racial markers in order to attract this or that group. Adam Silver needs to craft a new way for marketers to sell the game. For the sake of the sport and for the sake of the players and its fans.