By accepting racial protest, the NBA draws a blueprint for other sports
For too long, the league was interested in making itself palatable for a white audience. Under Adam Silver it is listening to its black playersIf there is one thing clear about the current NBA, it is that it is no longer the league of David Stern. As a businessman, the league’s former commissioner was a visionary, building a booming operation that now reaches around the globe. But on social issues he stumbled, creating policies that almost seemed designed to make a league of mostly African American players appear palatable to a white audience.It was Stern, after all, who 11 years ago created professional sports’ first sideline dress code that he called “business casual”. It came at a time when a phrase thrown...