Newsweek reports that the conversation has been fueled perpetually aggrieved Warriors Forward Draymond Green who says “you shouldn't say owner...Very rarely do we take the time to rethink something and say, 'Maybe that's not the way.'Just because someone was taught that 100 years ago doesn't make that the right thing today. And so, when you look at the word 'owner,' it really dates back to slavery. The word 'owner,' 'master' — it dates back to slavery... we just took the words and we continued to put it to use."
TMZ reports that multiple teams have considered dropping the term "owner" from their day-to-day vernacular.They report that “we're told the conversations essentially center around the idea that the term, owner — in a league where the majority of the players are black — feels racially insensitive.”
Mavs owner Mark Cuban said Green should apologize to the NBA because team owners own equity, not people.
He says “for him to try to turn it into something it's not is wrong.He owes the NBA an apology. I think he does, because to try to create some connotation that owning equity in a company that you busted your ass for is the equivalent of ownership in terms of people, that's just wrong. That's just wrong in every which way.People who read that message and misinterpret it — make it seem like we don't do everything possible to help our players succeed and don't care about their families and don't care about their lives, like hopefully we do for all of our employees — that's just wrong.”