Power and basketball

»Stand together« The Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball League (NBL) merged in New York in 1949 to form the National Basketball Association (NBA). Laughing in the middle: Maurice Podoloff, its president until 1963

Although the season doesn't start until the end of October, two of the most famous franchises in US professional basketball, the Lakers and the Clippers from Los Angeles, have made headlines in recent weeks. While the Lakers underwent a change of ownership for the gigantic sum of $12.5 billion, the Clippers, also based in Los Angeles, and their owner Steve Ballmer were sentenced to a harsh punishment by the National Basketball Association (NBA) for "blatant rule violations."

After a year-long investigation, the NBA sanctioned the Clippers for circumventing the salary cap that applies to all teams through improper sponsorship payments. The franchise had given the player Kawhi Leonard, among other things, an advertising contract worth $28 million, for which the 35-year-old did not have to deliver anything in return.

It's not uncommon for teams to change ownership within "billionaire communism," as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban once described the NBA. According to him, it is a “cartel-like, socialist system.”

As a result, the franchise was fined $30 million and lost five first-round draft picks, the right to select young players in the annual NBA recruiting round. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was also suspended from all league and team activities for one year. According to the NBA, Ballmer "knowingly attempted" to provide player Leonard with "earnings opportunities outside of sports." Other franchise officials were suspended from their positions for quite some time. Leonard, who will play for the Toronto Raptors in the future, only has to pay a fine of $700,000.

There have been rumblings at the neighboring Lakers since the previous majority owner Mark Walter surprisingly agreed this summer to sell his majority shares to a consortium led by Bob Iger, who until recently headed the Disney Group, and investor Joshua Kushner. Just a year earlier, Walter, who also holds shares in the English soccer club Chelsea FC and the baseball team Los Angeles Dodgers, had acquired the shares for ten billion. The quick sale caused all sorts of speculation in the media. It has now been announced that US federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating Walter's corporate empire TWG Global. The accusation: Intra-group investments of the insurers Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life may have been incorrectly reported in their balance sheets as investments independent of TWG.

In recent weeks, Walter's holding company had initiated measures to reduce intra-group investments at the two life insurers Delaware Life and Clear Spring Life. The investigation into possible accounting errors had sparked speculation that Walter could sell further investments in sports companies. However, TWG announced that it did not want to sell the Los Angeles Dodgers or any motorsport holdings. Such a change at the top of one of the most popular teams in the US Basketball League is often inflated into a political issue; it plays a major role in the entertainment value of the league.

Almost half of the team owners in the National Basketball Association are Jewish. One reason for this is the fact that in the 1920s to 1940s, the sport in the USA was heavily influenced by Jewish immigrants.

However, it is not uncommon for individual teams to change ownership within “billionaire communism,” as Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban once described the NBA. According to him, it is a “cartel-like, socialist system” that is lucrative for investors because competition is severely distorted. In addition to the distribution of NBA revenue to all teams, there is a salary cap for players, and in the draft the weaker teams have a greater chance of a higher pick. The idea behind it is simple: All investors should have a realistic chance of not only getting the dollars they invest back, but making a profit.

Almost half of the team owners in the National Basketball Association are Jewish. With the agreed sale of the Lakers to Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, 14 of the 30 NBA teams will have Jewish principal owners; There are also minority owners in other franchises. No other major US professional league has a similarly high proportion of Jewish team owners. One reason for this is the fact that in the 1920s to 1940s, the sport in the USA was heavily influenced by Jewish immigrants. On the one hand, the sport could be practiced in urban centers without high costs, but on the other hand, important political alliances emerged between blacks and Jews, especially in the later fight against racial discrimination. It wasn't just on the court that we stood together. The civil rights alliances of the 1960s brought together political luminaries such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: both took part in the famous march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

In the first years of the NBA, which emerged from the Basketball Association of America (BAA) founded in 1946 and has operated under its current name since 1949, there was no official ban on African-American players, but they were initially completely and later systematically disadvantaged through an informal quota practice. The integration of black players into the league began in 1950 under the first president of the NBA, the Jew Maurice Podoloff, born in 1890 in what is now Ukraine. Team owners like Walter Brown of the Boston Celtics and coaches like Red Auerbach were crucial. In 1950, Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton were the first African Americans to step onto the court. But the fight for equal rights was far from over.

Until the 1960s, African-American players were repeatedly banned from hotels. When a hotel employee told the assembled Minneapolis Lakers team in January 1959 that the white players were allowed to check in, but the black players were not, the entire team left the hotel in protest and moved together to accommodation that also accepted black guests. Player Elgin Baylor went one step further and boycotted the game the following day. Well-known players such as Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar supported the African-American civil rights movement, especially in the following years, and used their fame to campaign for social justice and against racism.

In 2005, a debate arose about what players should wear. Then-NBA Commissioner David Stern introduced a strict dress code that was widely seen as an attempt to tone down the league's "hip-hop image."

While many African-American athletes used professional basketball as a mouthpiece, NBA officials framed their product as entertainment for a predominantly white audience. This dichotomy has been evident again and again in the history of the league. In 2005, a debate arose about what players should wear. Then-NBA Commissioner David Stern introduced a strict dress code that was widely seen as an attempt to tone down the league's "hip-hop image." Players should wear office-appropriate casual clothing on official occasions; Among other things, certain items of clothing and openly worn necklaces were banned. The players' union (NBPA) and prominent stars such as Allen Iverson opposed these plans. The dress code was nevertheless introduced at the start of the 2005/06 season and enforced by the league.

The fact that player Kawhi Leonard is now paying a comparatively small fine despite being the beneficiary of salary cap circumvention suggests that the players' union is one of the few unions in the United States whose power is increasing with each passing year. NBA chairman Adam Silver "correctly took on the Clippers and Ballmer," comments Finn Fichtner on the sports news website Spox, but "he was happy to duck the players' union, which was already threatening him." Many observers considered it impossible that the star player would be banned for a season, which was at times discussed. But the fact that he escaped completely without a sports penalty is surprising. The balance of power within the league has shifted so much in recent decades that team owners would rather punish one of their own harshly in order to maintain profitable competition within their cartel, but let the player get away with a reprimand. After all, cash flow depends on whether the players on the court delight the fans in the hall, and not on which billionaire currently owns the majority of a particular franchise.