Disclaimer:
Yes, I know that talking about race is stupid. There is only one race: the human race. Skin color has nothing to do with a person. Racial groups were created years ago in a different world and today they’re hardly used. Etc. However, the discussion of race in the NBA lives on, and I thought it’d be interesting to put some numbers behind things. It might be best, also, to think of this as an analysis of the background of NBA players, not race.
Background
The basis of this study is to find average ethnicity numbers weighted by minutes played, meaning on the bench types have less of an influence on the statistics. For example, if there is one Asian player on a team and he plays 10% of the total team minutes, then the team is 10% Asian. If a player had parents of different ethnicities, I allocated the weight accordingly. I separated the ethnic groups into African, Caucasian, Hispanic, East Asian, Native American, and Indigenous Australian. There are numerous issues that arise when dividing people into these groups, but this was the best I could do to make sense of it all.
As for the specifics behind racial classification, Hispanic is a catch-all for Spain and Portugal’s influence over the western hemisphere, where otherwise it would be very difficult finding the right numbers for, say, the amount of white and black ethnic roots for Al Horford. This means that Spanish players were not Caucasian but Hispanic in this study. The Caribbean islands were a difficult bunch of countries to set a “race,” so I used the historical background of each one – Hispanic like Puerto Rico or West African like Jamaica. Caucasian included middle-eastern and Semitic groups like Israeli Omri Casspi. I understand that Native Americans have genetic similarities to East Asians, but culturally there’s a clear divide and when the average person thinks about race today that person doesn’t group them with Asians. Indigenous Australian seems like a group that’s too specific, but anthropology differentiates them from East Asians or Africans. (They’re actually the Australoid group, but I thought that term sounded so wrong, just like Mongoloid and Negroid.) There are also issues where most African-Americans have some Caucasian blood, and many Americans have some Native American. However, I do not have a DNA test for each NBA player; I worked with what I could find.
This is the first article I’ve published about race, and I hope to do one about this current season or seasons past. Consequently, I may have errors in the database, and any help is appreciated. Some players had difficult backgrounds to discern, and I imagine like some people, especially in the US, a few NBA players don’t know their ethnic makeup. The data will be improved with time, but this version is thorough enough to publish my findings.
Results
The NBA for the 2010-2011 season was on averaged weighted by minutes played 75.5% African, 17.7% Caucasian, 6.4% Hispanic, 0.3% East Asian, 0.02% Native American, and 0.1% Indigenous Australian. The team with the highest percentage of international player-minutes was San Antonio with 39.7% where the league average was 18.7% (Duncan was listed as international for having been born in the US Virgin Islands, and yes, I know that sounds weird.) The team with the highest percentage for Euro-born players was Toronto, not surprisingly, with 29.3% while the average was 10.5%.
The only three East Asian players last year to receive time were Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, and Jeremy Lin; all had little playing time, but Yao obviously had more in the past. The only Native American player was Delonte West, who said in an interview that his father was part Piscataway Indian. However, I couldn’t find exactly how much his Native American lineage was, so I estimated West’s as 25%. Previous Native American NBA players include Cherokee Parks and Bison Dele, who was murdered at sea by his brother. The only Indigenous Australian in the game is Patrick Mills, a lightning fast point guard now playing in China. Nathan Jawai is another Indigenous Australian who has played in 2008-9 and 2009-10, but he did not have any minutes in this season.
The whitest team in the league was Minnesota because of starters Kevin Love, Darko Milicic, and Luke Ridnour, while the blackest was Detroit who actually didn’t have any white players last season (Swede Jonas Jerebko was injured for the entire year and he’s back with the team now.) The most Hispanic was Denver. The results are found below in the following tables.
| Team |
African %
| Team |
Caucasian %
|
| Detroit Pistons |
91.6
| Minnesota Timberwolves |
38.8
|
| Boston Celtics |
90.1
| Phoenix Suns |
33.6
|
| LA Clippers |
87.9
| Golden State Warriors |
30.5
|
| Cleveland Cavaliers |
87.3
| Indiana Pacers |
29.1
|
| Philadelphia 76ers |
85.8
| San Antonio Spurs |
28.4
|
| Charlotte Bobcats |
85.4
| New Jersey Nets |
27.8
|
| Washington Wizards |
85.1
| Orlando Magic |
27.3
|
| Miami Heat |
83.5
| Dallas Mavericks |
26.1
|
| Portland Trailblazers |
82.6
| Milwaukee Bucks |
24.8
|
| Memphis Grizzlies |
80.4
| Utah Jazz |
24.4
|
| Chicago Bulls |
80.3
| Sacramento Kings |
22.3
|
| New York Knicks |
80.2
| Houston Rockets |
20.3
|
| Oklahoma City Thunder |
79.9
| Oklahoma City Thunder |
20.1
|
| New Orleans Hornets |
73.5
| New Orleans Hornets |
19.9
|
| Denver Nuggets |
73.0
| Chicago Bulls |
19.7
|
| Atlanta Hawks |
72.3
| Toronto Raptors |
18.0
|
| Utah Jazz |
71.7
| New York Knicks |
17.3
|
| LA Lakers |
71.4
| LA Lakers |
13.3
|
| Indiana Pacers |
70.9
| Charlotte Bobcats |
12.7
|
| Sacramento Kings |
70.7
| LA Clippers |
12.1
|
| Orlando Magic |
70.0
| Miami Heat |
10.0
|
| Golden State Warriors |
68.1
| Atlanta Hawks |
9.8
|
| San Antonio Spurs |
67.9
| Philadelphia 76ers |
9.5
|
| Milwaukee Bucks |
67.2
| Boston Celtics |
8.4
|
| Houston Rockets |
67.1
| Cleveland Cavaliers |
7.6
|
| Dallas Mavericks |
65.5
| Washington Wizards |
7.4
|
| New Jersey Nets |
65.0
| Denver Nuggets |
6.7
|
| Toronto Raptors |
64.3
| Portland Trailblazers |
4.0
|
| Phoenix Suns |
63.9
| Memphis Grizzlies |
2.2
|
| Minnesota Timberwolves |
61.2
| Detroit Pistons |
0.0
|
| Team |
Hispanic %
| Team |
East Asian %
|
| Denver Nuggets |
20.3
| Washington Wizards |
5.6
|
| Atlanta Hawks |
17.9
| Golden State Warriors |
1.4
|
| Toronto Raptors |
17.7
| Houston Rockets |
0.5
|
| Memphis Grizzlies |
17.3
| ||
| LA Lakers |
15.3
| ||
| Houston Rockets |
12.1
| Team |
Native American %
|
| Portland Trailblazers |
9.4
| Boston Celtics |
0.6
|
| Dallas Mavericks |
8.5
| ||
| Detroit Pistons |
8.4
| ||
| Milwaukee Bucks |
8.0
| Team |
Indigenous Australian %
|
| New Jersey Nets |
7.2
| Portland Trailblazers |
4.0
|
| Sacramento Kings |
7.0
| ||
| New Orleans Hornets |
6.6
| ||
| Miami Heat |
6.5
| ||
| Cleveland Cavaliers |
5.0
| ||
| Philadelphia 76ers |
4.7
| ||
| Utah Jazz |
3.9
| ||
| San Antonio Spurs |
3.7
| ||
| Orlando Magic |
2.7
| ||
| New York Knicks |
2.5
| ||
| Phoenix Suns |
2.5
| ||
| Washington Wizards |
1.9
| ||
| Charlotte Bobcats |
1.9
| ||
| Boston Celtics |
1.0
| ||
| Chicago Bulls |
0.0
| ||
| Golden State Warriors |
0.0
| ||
| Indiana Pacers |
0.0
| ||
| LA Clippers |
0.0
| ||
| Minnesota Timberwolves |
0.0
| ||
| Oklahoma City Thunder |
0.0
|
| Team |
Intnl. %
| Team |
Intnl. %
|
| San Antonio Spurs |
39.7
| Toronto Raptors |
29.2
|
| Sacramento Kings |
39.1
| Portland Trailblazers |
21.9
|
| Milwaukee Bucks |
37.7
| Dallas Mavericks |
21.5
|
| Toronto Raptors |
37.3
| Utah Jazz |
16.3
|
| Phoenix Suns |
31.5
| Memphis Grizzlies |
15.7
|
| Dallas Mavericks |
29.9
| LA Lakers |
15.6
|
| Portland Trailblazers |
27.2
| Oklahoma City Thunder |
15.3
|
| Utah Jazz |
26.8
| Phoenix Suns |
14.8
|
| Oklahoma City Thunder |
26.4
| Minnesota Timberwolves |
14.7
|
| Memphis Grizzlies |
22.7
| Golden State Warriors |
14.4
|
| Chicago Bulls |
21.2
| Charlotte Bobcats |
14.0
|
| Atlanta Hawks |
20.1
| Sacramento Kings |
13.8
|
| Miami Heat |
19.0
| Orlando Magic |
13.7
|
| Denver Nuggets |
18.7
| New Jersey Nets |
13.3
|
| New York Knicks |
16.5
| San Antonio Spurs |
12.8
|
| Charlotte Bobcats |
15.9
| New York Knicks |
10.8
|
| LA Lakers |
15.6
| New Orleans Hornets |
10.7
|
| Minnesota Timberwolves |
14.7
| Detroit Pistons |
10.7
|
| Golden State Warriors |
14.4
| Milwaukee Bucks |
7.6
|
| Orlando Magic |
13.7
| Atlanta Hawks |
6.4
|
| New Orleans Hornets |
13.5
| Boston Celtics |
6.2
|
| New Jersey Nets |
13.3
| Miami Heat |
5.8
|
| Detroit Pistons |
10.7
| Chicago Bulls |
5.0
|
| Cleveland Cavaliers |
10.2
| Denver Nuggets |
3.0
|
| Washington Wizards |
9.2
| Philadelphia 76ers |
0.4
|
| Boston Celtics |
7.2
| Cleveland Cavaliers |
0.3
|
| Philadelphia 76ers |
5.0
| Houston Rockets |
0.0
|
| Houston Rockets |
2.4
| Indiana Pacers |
0.0
|
| Indiana Pacers |
0.0
| LA Clippers |
0.0
|
| LA Clippers |
0.0
| Washington Wizards |
0.0
|
The league is, of course, largely black, but not every team is dominated by one ethnicity. Players of non-African ethnicities are not just relegated to bench duty; some are the foundation of teams. A third ethnic group along with African and Caucasian, the Hispanic influence on the game is growing. Countries like Spain, Brazil and Argentina produce some of the NBA’s best players and consequently they form a significant percentage of some NBA teams.
France contributed the most NBA players (excluding the US) but most of their players are African descendants and some were born in France’s overseas department entities like Guadelope. Despite the prevalent international influence on the game, two teams got zero minutes from players born in different countries: the Pacers and Clippers.
There are a few surprises in the data. Minnesota, not Utah or Indiana, was the whitest team. Toronto was not the most international team as they were fourth behind Sacramento and Milwaukee, which were definitely unexpected. No team, however, was more than 50% Caucasian, Hispanic, or International.
As for how ethnicity or background determined a team’s success, the charts at the end of the post show that there is no correlation whatsoever with ethnicity or percentage of internationally born players. Teams with more white players did not have a lower winning percentage overall, and vice versa. If you squint hard enough, you can sort of see a correlation in the international data, but a regression found that there was no significant prediction of wins from international player-minutes percentage. No correlation of wins with the international players is somewhat surprising because one could argue successful teams know how to find harder to locate players in Europe or other places, but recent champions like the 2006 Heat, the 2008 Celtics, and the 2004 Pistons gave few minutes to international players. Cellar-dwellers from last year include the Raptors and Kings, and both of those rosters could fill out a decent UN meeting.
Conclusion
I’ve attached a pie chart for every team showing the ethnic backgrounds. Again I’d like to reiterate that classifying by race is largely outdated, but it’s something we still talk about, especially in the NBA. The mainstream media ignore race when discussing the league, but fans do not. There are a number of prejudices associated with basketball, and these will not be solved by ignoring that Serge Ibaka and Steve Nash look dissimilar (it’s more than the hair.) We have an exciting league with players with very different backgrounds. There are players from Slovenia, Venezuela, Israel, Iran, and Switzerland. In 2010-11, the rookie of the year was half white and half black; an African-American won the MVP; the most improved player and leading rebounder was a white American; a Chinese all-star center retired; the leading shot-blocker was an Australian; and the best player on the championship team was German. Let’s celebrate that diversity, not hide it.
