There has been a whole lot of talk about issues at the grassroots level when it comes to basketball in the United States, and former NBA player Stephen Jackson has now chimed in on the subject. Jackson appeared on the latest episode of the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, where it was claimed that American basketball has taken a hit due to NIL.
“That’s a part of it, but it starts before that,” Jackson said. “It starts now with the kids that’s coming out of high school that would go to college and be able to play in college and maybe go to the NBA after one or two years. Now, they maybe have to go to prep school or do something else because everybody in college is 25 and up now, 24 and up now. Now you got these 25-26 year olds that’s getting to the NBA.
“They really ain’t that talented when they get there, but they big enough to dominate in college,” Jackson stated. “So now they get to the NBA, and they really trash. Because they be getting all this NIL money and they playing, they getting the minutes. The young kids somewhere trying to find a school. Them older motherf****** that’s been in college three years already, they getting all the minutes.
“So they getting the opportunity and when they get to the NBA, half of them burn out because they’ve been playing four years of college already,” Jackson continued. “And the other kids, when they get to the NBA, they already reached their potential. So they not really doing s***. So, it starts when they f*** over the high school kids first.
“Then these kids are getting the NIL money,” Jackson added. “And half of them are complacent with getting that money. They ain’t worried about getting to the league. I’mma parlay this s***… [More kids today] love what the game could do for them, than loving the game. They love the cars, the attention, the Instagram page, all this s*** that come with it, but they don’t love the game.”
Jackson, who spent 14 seasons in the NBA, isn’t the first to question the love for the game when it comes to the younger generation. A lot of former players seem to believe their priorities lie elsewhere. Jackson thinks NIL has now only made matters worse.
The very best players in the NBA today are not from the United States, and there has been a lot of criticism over how players are being developed. The European approach is being lauded, while the focus on the AAU circuit in the U.S. has been looked down upon, and Houston Rockets superstar Kevin Durant has a problem with that. Durant dismissed the notion that the Europeans are doing it better.
“I just don’t like the talk around the USA versus European style of how you approach the game,” Durant told ESPN. “All I hear is, ‘AAU is destroying the game; the Euros do it right while the Americans do it wrong.’”
“It’s a lot of bulls*** with that. I can read between the lines on that. It’s a shot at Black Americans. We’re controlling the sport. They’re tired of us controlling the sport. ‘France is coming for you.’ Really? We smacked them boys,” he said.
It will be interesting to see if the balance of power shifts in the next 10 years or so. Durant doesn’t think it will, but the rest of the world is catching up.
