Sports
NBA Scores High, Wins Praise For Its Progressive Diversity Practices – BET
August 10, 2023
12:53 PM
Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images
The NBA is proving that diversity is the name of the game.
According to the Associated Press, the NBA received a grade of A in the 2023 NBA Racial and Gender Report Card released by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) at the University of Central Florida.
The grading system is conducted annually and the league also earned an A+ for racial hiring practices, an A+ in diversity initiatives, and a B+ for gender hiring practices.
Following the release of the report on Tuesday (August 8), Lesley Slaton Brown, NBA Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, issued a statement that championed the league’s diversity efforts.
“We’re encouraged that the data reflected in the TIDES Race and Gender Report Card signifies the NBA’s dedication to attracting and developing a diverse pool of talented employees,” Brown said. “We will continue to focus on these efforts to drive progress across our global business.”
Richard Lapchick, the director for TIDES, believes that it’s critical for the league to have Black coaches because it increases the likelihood that Black candidates will have opportunities to be hired for other vacant positions.
“When a league takes the initiative to set the kind of example that the NBA does, that’s not only good for sport, but good for society as well,” Lapchick said.
People are willing to spend their resources when the people who look like them are running the organizations Lapchick argued.
“The NBA was really the first league to realize — and this was a long time ago — that diversity now is a business imperative, not just a moral imperative,” he continued “And they’ve made it a part of their business principles to be inclusive and to use that image that they have to market the league as successfully as they have.”
Currently, women occupy 43.3 percent of the league’s professional staff which is the highest in 10 years. The league also saw a 30 percent increase in both racial and gender hiring for senior administrative roles for franchises.
In June, the NBA G League Stockton Kings made history by naming Lindsey Harding their head coach and Anjali Ranadivé as the team’s general manager making it the first time that two women will lead a G League team.
While the NBA is progressing in a lot of areas, the league didn’t score as high at the highest levels of leadership. The league earned an F grade for women representing just 10 percent of team owners, a D+ grade for having just 13.3 percent of team owners being people of color, and another F grade for racial and gender diversity at the president/CEO level.
TIDES will release report cards for the WNBA, NFL, Major League Soccer, and college sports later this year.
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