The Politics NBA Players Won’t Talk About
When Speaking up Takes Courage.
“The NBA may not be as politically one-sided as it looks from the outside.”
When we think about politics in the NBA, it is easy to assume that most players fall on the same side. The opinions we hear publicly tend to lean in one direction, and athletes who go against that can face a lot of backlash. But according to former NBA player Matt Ryan, what we see publicly doesn’t necessarily represent what players actually believe.
Ryan has played for several NBA organizations, including the Celtics, Lakers, Timberwolves, and Knicks. He is now preparing to play internationally with Maxima Roma in Italy. He sat down with The Young Right to talk about his career, sports culture, and his experience with politics in the NBA.
According to Ryan, there are more conservative players in the league than most people realize. A lot of them just don’t talk about their views publicly.
It makes sense why some players would rather stay quiet. Professional athletes spend most of their lives working toward careers that don’t last very long. They have contracts, endorsements, business opportunities, and reputations to protect. Speaking publicly about a controversial issue can create problems that staying quiet doesn’t.
Ryan also made it clear that he doesn’t necessarily think the NBA itself is creating that pressure.
When we asked him about athletes being expected to speak about political and social issues, he said a lot of that pressure actually comes from the media. Athletes are asked to give their opinion on whatever issue is currently in the news, even when it has nothing to do with basketball.
At the same time, Ryan doesn’t think athletes should have to “stick to sports.” If athletes want to use their platform to talk about something they care about, they should be able to. The problem is that we can’t encourage athletes to speak up and then get angry when they express an opinion we don’t agree with.
Ryan also talked about what he called “selective outrage.” People are sometimes very outspoken about an issue when it is popular or getting a lot of attention, but don’t apply those same beliefs consistently. Ryan believes that if athletes are going to speak publicly about important issues, their opinions should be based on consistent principles and logic instead of whatever happens to be popular at the time.
We also talked about WNBA player Sophie Cunningham and the backlash athletes can receive when they are outspoken about controversial issues. Ryan defended athletes’ right to share their personal beliefs, even when those beliefs aren’t popular.
That doesn’t mean people aren’t allowed to disagree with them. If athletes share opinions publicly, other people have every right to criticize it. But criticism is different from creating an environment where athletes feel that expressing the wrong political opinion could affect their careers.
That was probably the biggest takeaway from our conversation with Ryan. The NBA may not be as politically one-sided as it looks from the outside. If Ryan is right, there are plenty of players with conservative views. We just don’t hear from many of them.
The question is why they don’t feel comfortable talking about it.