The shift over the past 40 years toward acknowledging issues of race and politics occurred largely because the NBA’s fan base and audience changed. In 1980, most NBA fans were members of the white middle-class with enough disposable income to attend games or purchase televisions on which they could watch the few televised offerings. By contrast, in 2024, the league appeals to younger American fans, whose politics lean left, as well as those representing a broadly diverse global audience.
This transformation of the league’s fan base has changed the calculus on recognizing race and its impact in American society. Instead of trying desperately to sidestep a potential political landmine, like the other sports leagues do, the NBA and its players have become vocal proponents of social change, even in the face of pushback from more conservative Americans.
The comments on race from Erving and O’Brien came at a moment of transition for the NBA. In 1970, about half of NBA players were Black; a decade later, they held roughly three out of every four roster spots league wide. In 1978, Milwaukee Bucks’ owner Marvin Fishman voiced a common sentiment when he articulated that teams wanted a racial “mixture” on their rosters.
In October 1979, however, the New York Knicks defied that commonly held perception with a seemingly innocuous roster move. The team released two journeymen forwards to pare their roster down from 13 players to 11—the maximum any team could carry at the time. The story would have merited little attention, but reporters realized that the two released forwards had been the only white players on the Knicks’ roster. That meant the team now fielded the first all-Black roster in NBA history.
Knicks officials insisted the decision had nothing to do with race. Madison Square Garden chairman Sonny Werblin addressed reporters. “When you’re bad, you worry about getting good players,” he said. “You don’t care whether they’re Black, white, green or red. There was no Black-white decision to make, none whatsoever.”
Other owners, however, saw the Knicks’ decision as a misstep. “White people have to have white heroes,” Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Ted Stepien said. “I myself can’t equate to Black heroes, I’ll be truthful. I respect them, but I need white people.”
O’Brien dismissed such thinking, confidently predicting that when the Knicks built a contending team, “it will be reflected in attendance.” The commissioner understood that the percentage of the league’s players who were Black was increasing and he hoped to cultivate Black attendance at NBA games, as well as growing the league’s market share of Black television viewers.