Former NBA star Jalen Rose sees a “residue” of slavery in the way players’ contracts are handled.
During a recent appearance on a live recording of the “Joe and Jada Unfiltered” podcast, the 53-year-old former pro baller sat down with hosts Fat Joe and Jadakiss and described how the National Basketball Association has a salary cap and entry restrictions after high school, while some other, less Black-centric sports do not.
“That’s a residue of slavery because we’re going to get money off of you for multiple years for free,” Rose said. “There’s no way around it.”
What Rose is highlighting is something many have pointed out for decades, particularly given the optics of leagues like the NBA, where Black players make up 70% of the players, while non-white owners make up around 13%. The NBA also has a salary cap (albeit considered “soft”) and prohibits players from entering the league straight out of high school. Currently, players must be at least 19 years old and at least 12 months removed from their high school graduation. Because of this, many players opt to spend a gap year in college, where, up until recent NIL reforms, they did not receive financial compensation beyond scholarships despite generating billions of dollars for the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
“What happened in the game is that it became so obvious because of social media and because of information, it’s like ‘we’re making billions of dollars, we gotta pay ’em something,’” Rose continued.
Comparing the modern era to his own collegiate career, Rose recalled being part of the famous “Fab Five,” the groundbreaking group of star players that included Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King, and Ray Jackson, who rose to national prominence while playing basketball for the Michigan Wolverines in the early 1990s. The Fab Five became known for bringing a baggy-clothes-clad, streetball bravado to the game, garnering millions of fans, something Rose, who went on to have a 13-year NBA career playing for six teams, including the Indiana Pacers, Chicago Bulls, and New York Knicks, said he did not have the ability to push back against publicly at the time.
“I sit on the table about this for a long time, for 30 years… The greatest trick that the media played on society is that the Fab 5 was some dumb negros that went to Michigan,” he said. “That was like the biggest trick, and we didn’t have like social media. I couldn’t say nothing and I’m like ‘I’m on the dean’s list’ and they’re treating me like I’m some dummy. And I took that personally.”
Rose, who retired from the NBA in 2007, said he’s glad college players are now allowed to be paid, “but if you notice, the NBA still got a salary cap. The National Football League still got a salary cap.”
