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

[RubioTheCruel]

Bodies. You need so many bodies. And its less specialized. If you are big and athletic a coach can find a spot for you. And if you rich with options you might be less likely to steer your child in that direction. NFL is the only sport I have heard players say they dont want their kids to play.

It's like boxing in that aspect. The brutality of the sport will always be an avenue for poor kids.

 

[daboywonder2002]

ITS DEFINITELY NOT FOR
THE LOWER CLASS ANYMORE



​

Whatever happened to recruiting athletes from the hood?

Everyone can't afford AAU, private school or some high priced basketball camp. Before you had recruiters going to hoods nobody wanted to go to. Even now that's not an excuse because you can do zoom calls. Dajuan Wagner jr might be one exception. I just don't get why more recruiters don't come to...

www.thecoli.com

 

[Tupac in a Business Suit]

It doesn’t make for a better product but honestly who cares? Most guys wash out within 3-4 years and end up training or coaching the rest of their lives. Kids from the park who are skilled and have a chip will always make it because talent cant be denied. Non existe issue.

 

[skyrunner1]

I think focusing on basketball is too narrow.

Sports in America has become such a big business that tons of money is required across the board.

Michael Lewis has an audiobook about his experience with his daughter’s softball teams and how much financial stress that put on his family. And towards the end of the book he shares some metrics around the total costs families spend from youth to college vs the scholarships athletes get in various sports. If I recall correctly only football is fairly viable for the poor.

People with money will always have advantages, whether they’re former athletes or not.

That dont even take the time constraints also. How are these kids supposed to make it to the year round clubs everyday?

 

[Primetime21]

Half is a ridiculous lie. the number is 5% but 48% have parents who were elite athletes at the college level or amateurs. and that’s not all basketball

5% is the number of guys who have a father that played in the NBA, that doesn't account for parents who played professionally overseas or were professionals in another sport.

 

[Standing on business]

The price of the training camps these parents put these kids in is crazy. They're so skilled now at a young age. The poor kid who just needed the right people around him growing to make it probably won't exsist anymore. Unless he's a physical freak of nature.

 

[Da_Eggman]

This is also true for baseball at least in American

Kids can’t afford all the gloves, bats, traveling teams are a fortune

Baseball is far more expensive to play than basketball

 

[Yayo Toure]

100% this.

Steph is considered small-ish at 6'2" and maybe 180 or 185 lbs. His height is 95th percentile.

People don't realize being 6'2" and taller is VERY rare. Most of the men in my fam are between 6'0" and 6'4" but I'm only 5'7." Hanging around them makes me think their height is normal....but in reality, they're outliers.

Basketball has the lowest talent bar IMO because height filters out 90 to 95% of all men from the jump. Soccer by comparison is open to just about anyone, so raw ability is the deciding factor. The game would look a lot different if Maradona, Pele, Messi etc., couldn't play because they were under 5'9".

"Soccer " requires technical ability that if it isn't instilled early, greatly reduces the chance of being a professional.

American football has the lowest bar of entry. You are tall and fast, play wide receiver. You can throw, play quarterback. You are fat and can take punishment, play offensive line. A position for almost everyone.

 

[FlimFlam]

It doesn’t make for a better product but honestly who cares? Most guys wash out within 3-4 years and end up training or coaching the rest of their lives. Kids from the park who are skilled and have a chip will always make it because talent cant be denied. Non existe issue.

talent can be and often is denied... this aint 1985 anymore..."talent" is just a bulletpoint on a cv at this point

 

[Flight]

It’s not half but it is at a point where @SchoolboyC mentioned most of the top kids are coming from parents that played D1 or college ball.

 

[GoldenGlove]

Classism in sports has gotten pretty wild just observing it as an adult.

It's more prevalent now, politics with these teams/schools starts at a younger age. The pipelines have been established and parents do not want to miss out on opportunities for their kids to "make it".

Prep schools are getting kids from rich talent states for the sake of more exposure... when these kids already are 5 star recruits. Weren't all the McDonald's All-Americans from prep schools this year? The hype machine for these prospects starts a lot younger now and for all the talented kids that aren't on a circuit/locked in with a team, they are at a disadvantage.

I've never saw so many seniors in HS playing 17U AAU ball AFTER the HS season ended because they still don't have anywhere to play in college. I'm talking 4 star players that lead their teams to deep playoff runs.

shyt is crazy!

 

[Bigwhite2498]

If you have resources to put into something, you’re always going to be at a huge advantage over somebody who doesn’t have the resources. That’s not sports, that’s life.

And the children of pro players getting to the league likely has a lot more to do with genetics (the biggest factor in becoming a pro hooper in the first place) and them having the information on how to make it in the first place, which is the same reason its always easier for someone’s child to follow the parent into whatever vocation.

I agree but I would say it’s mainly more pro players kids because of the bolded then genetics because the vast majority of them are less genetically gifted then their fathers also the connections they get from their fathers or mothers give them an edge as well. It’s kinda how most of the richest people all have parents who were already business inclined or had connections.

 

[Bigwhite2498]

I think focusing on basketball is too narrow.

Sports in America has become such a big business that tons of money is required across the board.

Michael Lewis has an audiobook about his experience with his daughter’s softball teams and how much financial stress that put on his family. And towards the end of the book he shares some metrics around the total costs families spend from youth to college vs the scholarships athletes get in various sports. If I recall correctly only football is fairly viable for the poor.

People with money will always have advantages, whether they’re former athletes or not.

100% agree you even see this in football with qbs offensive lineman and to a lesser extent the elite players in general come from two parent households and grew up kinda privileged

 

[247Alex]

they got entry level sports for everybody - but if you want to be really competitive and get ahead, yeah you coming out of pocket for that.

 

[Bigwhite2498]

The NFL is probably the last remaining working class league. And with the way cats were treating Shedeur Sanders like MLK over the draft, that might be a thing of the past in another decade or two.

Not really all the positions that make the most money are dominated by more privileged athletes