Korver wants to open a dialogue about race in the NBA.
Kyle Korver is a veteran journeyman in the NBA who now plays for the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference. In a new piece for The Players Tribune titled “Privilege,” Korver examines his own role in the NBA and how race plays a huge factor in what he does. As a white player in a league that is 80% black, Korver has realized that occupies a different space that has him disconnected from what many the other players have to go through. For him, this is what gives him added privilege.
“There’s an elephant in the room that I’ve been thinking about a lot over these last few weeks,” Korver wrote. “It’s the fact that, demographically, if we’re being honest: I have more in common with the fans in the crowd at your average NBA game than I have with the players on the court.”
Korver even talked about an incident that occurred in Utah this year, where a fan was banned for life after getting into an altercation with Russell Westbrook. The Jazz veteran says the conversation that occurred afterward opened his eyes to many the struggles his black teammates face.
“This wasn’t the first time they’d taken part in conversations about race in their NBA careers, and it wasn’t the first time they’d had to address the hateful actions others,” Korver wrote. “And one big thing that got brought up a lot in the meeting was how incidents like this — they weren’t only about the people directly involved. This wasn’t only about Russ and some heckler. It was about more than that. It was about what it means just to exist right now — as a person color in a mostly white space. It was about racism in America.”
The Jazz player finished by talking about how he needs to hold other white people accountable and that there is still a lot to be done before race relations get better.