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merger would form a monopoly and restrict player mobility (George 186). In 1973, a judge
ruled in favor of the union. Developments in the NBAPA suit received regular publicity
from 1970 until 1977, when it was settled out of court, and was often characterized in terms
of players thwarting the best interests of owners, leagues and fans. As with most union negotiations,
working conditions were as critical as actual wages (George 187), although the
media presented greed as the players’ real motivation (Fortunato 167).
The declining power of organized labor in the 1970s may have contributed to an environment
unsympathetic to the player’s union, but it is not the primary context in which to understand
the perception of the NBAPA. Seen in the context of the accumulation of wealth
by young black men, as opposed to the broader American labor movement, poor treatment
of players and a lack of public sympathy to their concerns fit into a historical pattern of white
reactions to black financial success. Young black men who had already earned more money
than some whites would in their entire lives were organizing collectively to demand even
more. From this perspective, the NBA players’ drug of choice—cocaine—can be seen as a
marker of class. As Boyd (2003) puts it, “cocaine was a drug for the beautiful people, the
wealthy, the stars, the glamorous ones for whom money and access were no object” (23).
By using cocaine, NBA players implicitly signaled that their wealth and power allowed them
to ignore racial boundaries. Historically, African Americans who amass economic or social
capital and/or rise in status—individually or collectively, as personal fortune or political
movement—threaten the status quo that has privileged white Americans. During a the 1970s,
a decade of relative scarcity, young black men who crossed the interrelated boundaries of
color and class via their economic position posed a threat to the social order of white privilege.
Black Style and White Prejudice
MATTHEW SCHNEIDER-MAYERSON
As the rival leagues competed, the ABA and NBA developed distinct styles that developed
racial associations. The ABA operated without a television contract and on the edge of a
pecuniary cliff for most of its existence (1967-1976), which forced the league to experiment
in order to draw more fans. Rule changes, most notably the introduction of the three-point
shot, were supplemented by the active recruitment of athletic players to create a guard-oriented
style of play that emphasized movement, athleticism and showmanship. Players, coaches
and owners were attentive to their fans’ desires: they developed a red-white-and-blue ball,
inaugurated the Slam Dunk Contest, and promoted individual players as celebrities (Andrews
14) in order to increase attendance. Fans, players and critics often refer to the ABA as a
“black” league (Boyd 2003; George 181; Andrews 14). The ABA did indeed have a slightly
higher percentage of black players than the NBA, but more importantly it was “dominated
by a Black aesthetic” (George 181), which is usually described as some combination of
“improvisational,” “creative,” “athletic” and “intimidating” (George xvii). In the mid-1970s
ABA attendance was actually increasing at a greater rate than the NBA, even without the
exposure of national television (Kirchberg 146). Indeed, after the merger, many players and
journalists questioned whether the NBA’s dwindling attendance had something to do with
its slow-down, drag-out style of play. As Boyd noted about the relationship between white
fans and black players, “they love your performance, but they hate you” (2003, 39). As we
have seen, the league may indeed have been too culturally and politically “black” for whites
at the time. The NBA thus faced a dilemma: how to harness the “black aesthetic” that whites
found appealing while rendering “blackness” invisible?
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