Editor’s note: Richard Lapchick is a human rights activist, pioneer for racial equality, expert on sports issues, scholar and author.
When I started publishing the Racial and Gender Report Cards in 1988, the NBA was the best professional sports league for hiring women and people of color by a significant margin. Thirty-five years later, it is still the best among men’s pro leagues and trails slightly behind the WNBA, which had its inaugural season in 1997. In the latest NBA Racial and Gender Report Card (RGRC), released Tuesday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida (UCF), the NBA received an A-plus for racial hiring practices and a B-plus for gender hiring practices. The NBA earned a combined grade of an A.
The NBA received an A-plus for racial hiring practices with a score of 96.5…
