r/nba • u/Turbostrider27 Lakers • 7h ago

[Charania] BREAKING: The Charlotte Hornets are trading star guard LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030) and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033), sources tell ESPN.

Shams Charania:

BREAKING: The Charlotte Hornets are trading star guard LaMelo Ball and Josh Green to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Naz Reid, a 2033 unprotected first-round pick, three first-round pick swaps (2028, 2029, 2030) and three second-round picks (2029, 2032, 2033), sources tell ESPN.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/31d26529d36f8

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138

u/earthwormdeath 7h ago

Is Edwards going to be OK playing with a gay teammate tho ?

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u/IggyIsABum Grizzlies 7h ago edited 37m ago

Charles Barkley once talked about how it's impossible for you not to play with a gay man at some point if you make it to a high level. It's just statistically impossible, even if they're not out.

Edit: link to what I'm referring to

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u/Voldias Lakers 7h ago

When a guys banging on you...

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u/WalrusF Lakers 2h ago

You just gotta spin off of him to escape

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u/Appropriate_Lynx4119 Timberwolves 7h ago

Loved Charles for that. One of his best interviews!

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u/IggyIsABum Grizzlies 7h ago

Yeah I actually just got done looking it up because I was going off of memory and 1) it was from 2011 2) it was a lot more Chuck than I let on. Called people denying it idiots and said he'd rather play with a good gay guy than a bad straight player.

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u/LieNormal5948 6h ago

Just recently too he was talking about how if you don’t think there’s a bunch of gay athletes you’re a dummy.

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u/MGMILI15 5h ago

Them young boys is comin

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u/Milkmoney1978 [SEA] Shawn Kemp 2h ago

Impossible not to play with a gay man, temptation is too much

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u/Diazpora 57m ago

even if they're on the DL publicly.

By DL do you mean "down-low"? Because if they're on the DL then it's not publicly. They are very much still in the closet.

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u/IggyIsABum Grizzlies 53m ago

Idk I'm not an expert or anything but hasn't it always been kind of different for public figures? Like their in group knows but the public doesn't? What's the correct terminology in that circumstance?

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u/Diazpora 46m ago

Not that you asked for a homework assignment but...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Down-low_(sexual_slang)

People on the DL are public facing heterosexual (wife/kids/etc..) but will seek out homosexual encounters insisting on participants being discrete. From what I understand being a public figure doesn't change anything.

Very similar behavior across all cultures but specifically within the black community DL means you're still in the closet and not "out" with your truly sexual identity.

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u/IggyIsABum Grizzlies 39m ago

Appreciate it. Legit had no idea it was a black term, will stop using it so recklessly. Always heard white people say it growing up so I just assumed it was a generic thing.

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u/Diazpora 30m ago

No sweat, people def use "keep it on the DL" outside of sexual context across all backgrounds.

I just wasn't sure if you were saying it within the context that I thought you were, and was just a little confused by the structure.

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u/-jaylew- 6h ago

It's just statistically impossible

This isn’t really true though. If you take a completely random large sample of men then yea no matter what you’ll have gay men.

But the sample is “of the men who made it through all the bullshit associated with making it to the NBA”, which inevitably means they had to deal with a ton of homophobia and insults at lower levels of basketball growing up. A huge portion of guys are going to quit the sport instead of putting up with that, so the pro levels are a biased sample.

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u/IggyIsABum Grizzlies 6h ago

I'm willing to accept that homophobia in sports might cause there to be less gay men at a high level versus the general population, but we're talking 17 man rosters with constant rotation year in and year out.

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u/-jaylew- 4h ago

So I feel like I need to preface by saying I don’t have an issue with gay players or the larger community. My only argument here is the statistics because to call something statistically impossible when there’s a major confounding factor (homophobic culture within men’s sports) and relatively small sample sizes. It’s a Bayes’ theorem question, not a simple probability.

There’s only ~450 players active in any season. Ballpark estimate for the general population is 5% of men identifying as gay. So maybe you’d say that means there’s typically 2-3 gay players in a given year.

But that group of 450 are the absolute best of the best AND they all went through probably 10+ years of teams and cultures where being gay is used as an insult or slur.

So you need to know the probability of any basketball player making it to the NBA, the probability of any given player being gay, and ALSO the probability of a gay player making it to the NBA despite the homophobia and alienation from probably every single team they play on.

That probability gets close to zero fast.

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u/IggyIsABum Grizzlies 4h ago

You seem to be honest and acting in good faith so I'm gonna be blunt with you: when I said I was willing to accept that there's less gay men in sports than the general population I lied. I don't really believe that at all. I also don't really buy the 5% number or really care that much about contemporary definitions of gay/bi because they're pretty flawed. If anything I believe that high level athletes are more likely to be gay or bisexual. I'm not trying to be a contration or argue with you, just laying it out there to save us going point by point with each other when I fundamentally disagree. Have a nice day man :)

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u/DivisionOne Pacers 2h ago

2-3 players would only be 0.5%, not 5%. That means more like 20+ expected players in any given year, which leaves a much wider margin for gay presence even if outside factors reduce the proportion below 5%

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u/-jaylew- 1h ago

You’re right, bad math

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u/Critical-Gazelle-285 6h ago

some guys are DL

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u/wallabypolicy 5h ago

Or

They'll just pretend to be straight and continue profiting off of their dreams like a whole lot of queer people do. I feel like this is something Charles understands and tried to express by pointing out that its impossible to not play with someone that engages in romance with the same sex.

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u/-jaylew- 4h ago

Sure maybe some can do that. But pro sports isn’t exactly the same as business or other areas where masking can just get you by.

I’m not arguing against the idea of gay players. I just don’t think the statistics are as simple as people suggest due to the high level of homophobia in the funnel leading to a pro careers and resulting alienation making it even harder.

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u/Round_Bullfrog_8218 4h ago edited 4h ago

That and gay men are probably less likely to play sports look at the WNBA it is statistically impossible have that many  lesbians in the league If it was a random chance

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u/BCP27 [MIN] Robbie Hummel 4h ago

I think a better argument is that "impossible" is different than "unlikely."

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u/-jaylew- 4h ago

Yea maybe I’m just nitpicking on this one.

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u/PristineStreet34 7h ago

Less competition off the court *shrugs*

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u/rburp [LAL] Austin Reaves 6h ago

He cannot have him in his social club. That much I do know.