A Microhistory of the Fabled “White Boy” and the Luka Dončić Theory
It’s time to stop pretending racial history doesn’t influence our experience as sports consumers
After calling Luka Dončić — the Dallas Mavericks’ meteoric basketball prodigy — a “bitch ass white boy” during a recent NBA Playoff game, Montrezl Harrell — power forward for the Los Angeles Clippers — began to receive death threats and was told he was a, you know, that word white Americans invented to dehumanize black Americans for centuries. You know the word. We all do. For hundreds of years now, it epitomizes how if you are white in this country, you can say or do certain things to whoever you want with minimal consequence, but if you are black, well, you’d better hold your tongue. Apparently, Montrezl isn’t a tongue-holder.
I don’t want this to be a story about Montrezl and Luka only, though — not completely, at least. Instead, I want this to be a story about American myths and hoop legends, how they are made, what they look like, and how we all play and cheer in this beautiful game together. I want this to be about our expectations for competitors, and about the complex microdecisions that go into determining which athletes we choose to support, and which we choose to root against.
