Is basketball now a sport for the rich? Half players have a pro athlete parent

[Marc Spector]

This guy is sloppy. The Wall Street journal article he mentions doesn’t say at least one parent who is a professional athlete.

The study says close to half are related to current or former elite athletes. They define elite as professional athletes, anyone who played collegiate (NCAA) or at a “national team level.”

It shouldn’t be any surprise that a professional athlete would have a family member or relative that has reached that level. A guy in the nba whose sister competed in shot put in college was included

But that’s kind of the point though isn’t it?

Once upon a time you had tons of NBA and NFL players that came from very humble sports backgrounds. Like I’m talking guys whose entire families never even competed in sports competitively.

It speaks to the depth of talent nowadays that you basically have to come from genetically gifted bloodlines (on some kekkai genkai shyt) to succeed in the NBA nowadays, instead of being a one in 1000 aberration in your family.

 

[Marc Spector]

and once again y’all are conflating “having a pro athlete as a parent” with “having money”.

Jalen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Brandon Miller, Devin Booker, Julius Randle, Ja Morant, and tons of other players come from parents who played college or international ball and they still grew up very middle class to lower middle class.

As far as the money for travel teams and equipment and training, yes if your kid is slightly above average in height and talent in basketball, you’re really gonna have to break bread to get them the tools to be successful. If your kid is talented to play in the NBA, people will eventually take notice and will start footing the bill to get your kid in the pipeline, look no further than the hood to private school pipeline that most NBA players go through.

Sports like baseball, football, tennis and softball though?

Yeah you coming off that bread no matter what. Those sports require reps, training, and quality equipment that you just can’t go cheap on.

but even then, if you are good enough to play at the next level, scouts and coaches are going to notice and are gonna try and put you in a program that will foot the bill for everything.

 

[///Vega+++]

For which result tho
7 years of non-us MVPs in a row

 

[GnauzBookOfRhymes]

But that’s kind of the point though isn’t it?

Once upon a time you had tons of NBA and NFL players that came from very humble sports backgrounds. Like I’m talking guys whose entire families never even competed in sports competitively.

It speaks to the depth of talent nowadays that you basically have to come from genetically gifted bloodlines (on some kekkai genkai shyt) to succeed in the NBA nowadays, instead of being a one in 1000 aberration in your family.

This is the kind of hyperbole that I have a problem with.

 

[Dorian Breh]

But that’s kind of the point though isn’t it?

Once upon a time you had tons of NBA and NFL players that came from very humble sports backgrounds. Like I’m talking guys whose entire families never even competed in sports competitively.

It speaks to the depth of talent nowadays that you basically have to come from genetically gifted bloodlines (on some kekkai genkai shyt) to succeed in the NBA nowadays, instead of being a one in 1000 aberration in your family.

It speaks to the expansion of sports leagues.

Every college has scouts even small non competitive schools that didn’t even have a basketball team in the 70s

There are professional leagues all over Europe which didn’t exist in the 70s. That league that the Ball kids played in Lithuania…. Lithuania wasn’t even a country in the 70s!

So for people who were born in the 90s or later, their parents had many more opportunities to get paid or get a scholarship to play sports.

Whereas players born in the 60s like Jordan and other 90s fixtures… their parents grew up without opportunities to play professionally or go to college, and many of them grew up in heavily segregated societies.

It will take another generation I think to compare whether basketball is now a sport for the rich. It may be.

But the entire world has changed so much between this generation of ballers and the 90s/00s that you can’t make a normal comparison.

 

[CoCKy GeNiuS]

One of the homies said to me "the NFL and NBA is about to be only for players whose parents played" and I thought he was slightly on to something.

Might be some soft gatekeeping going on

 

[GoldenGlove]

Kid is on SCnext IG post and currently at a public school. If you're on a legitimate AAU team you will still get the necessary looks to be big time. Prep HS feels like it's ideal for kids that are laser focused on going to the league imo. Thompson was a national name already as a sophomore before announcing he's going prep next year

 

[010101]

it's also time for folks to realize there are way more jobs in the hoops business outside making a roster spot in the NBA

more light for the international options & other available lanes

especially for the cats coming up without the 5star stamp the earlier you start preparing for life outside that narrow NBA dream the better

*

 

[Oldschooler]

To answer the question in the thread title. I would say that basketball is a sport that requires you to have the physical traits first and that is height. Obviously parents who were former basketball players at a pro or semi pro level had the height so statistically they are more prone to having children who are tall and coordinated. So the correlation isn't between being rich but it's coming from a family who's genes allow you to first have the physical traits.

Plenty of evidence of young talented players in their early days not amounting to anything because they don't grow. Julian Newman as a prime example.

Now having said that coming from money obviously will allow you a better shot at making it if you want it and have the physical traits. That goes for anything in life really. Having money makes life easier. Plain and simple. Basketball is one of the few sports actually where having money doesn't give you as much of an advantage because anyone can buy a $30 ball and find a public hoop and practice every day. Its much harder to do hockey, baseball and even football without money. Ofcourse the pro leagues in the US have established their pipelines through their marketing partners where if you're good enough at a young age you start getting sponsored and helped along the ways. This is where boosters come in.

 

[iceberg_is_on_fire]

Kid is on SCnext IG post and currently at a public school. If you're on a legitimate AAU team you will still get the necessary looks to be big time. Prep HS feels like it's ideal for kids that are laser focused on going to the league imo. Thompson was a national name already as a sophomore before announcing he's going prep next year

Yes, but now he's transferring to a school in Missouri to be taken beyond what the high school could do, which is nothing. He came to them that nice and they rode the wave for two years. Some rich alumnus going to be footing the bill for him now.