Diversity at The National Basketball Association

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The National Basketball Association is the most popular professional basketball league in North America; it is also the most popular professional basketball league in the world. The National Basketball Association (NBA) is one of the most diverse businesses in the world, which was the deliberate plan of former NBA commissioner David Stern. The NBA was once an all white and male dominated league, now through years of an aggressive effort to diversify the organization the NBA is now one of the shining beacons for diversity, tolerance and acceptance in the workplace. Former NBA commissioner David Stern spearheaded and put into action on the best examples of creating and cultivation opportunities for success based on merit. “When David Stern steps down as NBA Commissioner in 2014, among the legacies he will have created is an era in professional sport when leagues and teams hired the best people possible. He embraced the moral imperative for diversity while helping to show the other leagues that diversity is also a business imperative. The evidence for the NBA’s continued commitment to racial equality is seen in the strong grades in the League Office and in many key areas on the team level.”(Lapchick, R.) To fully understand the transformation of the league we will cover the history of the association, team diversity, league diversity, the NBA diversity initiative, and current diversity issues.
On August 3, 1949 the National Basketball League (NBL) was dissolved into the Basketball Association of American (BAA), which was started in 1946 to create the National Basketball Association. Through the merger of the two leagues into the NBA there were now 18 teams that were eventually dwindled down to eight teams. The original eight are sti...

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Vecsey, G. (2009, August 10). Pioneering Knick Relives The Cheers Of Long Ago. The New York Times. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/11/sports/basketball/11vecsey.html?hp

NBA pioneer Harold Hunter, an ex-Xavier coach, died Thursday. (2013, March 7). NOLA.com. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.nola.com/xavier/index.ssf/2013/03/pioneering_coach_harold_hunter.html

NBA is born. (n.d.). History.com. Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nba-is-born

Lapchick, R., Hippert, A., Rivera, S., & Robinson, J. (2013, June 25). The 2013 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Basketball Association. . Retrieved April 20, 2014, from http://tidesport.org/RGRC/2013/2013_NBA_RGRC.pdf

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