The NBA Ranks First in Diversity Hiring

For the second year in a row, the NBA ranks No. 1 among major sports leagues in the hiring of racially-diverse people.

The L lost marks, however, when it comes to its gender-based hiring practices.

The NBA is the first sports league to have two minorities as majority team owners.

Per the AP:

According to the report released Thursday by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, the NBA received an A-plus for the second year in a row for racial hiring and dropped to a B in gendering hiring practices. The league’s overall grade of A was its eighth in row as the NBA scored higher than other professional sports league in all three categories. […] Reports are also issued on the NFL, MLB, MLS, WNBA and college sports.

 

The NBA has “been the leaders in pretty much both areas since we’ve been doing the report card and they are still ahead of everybody even in gender,” said Richard Lapchick, who authors the Racial and Gender Report Card released by the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. “The NFL had a C-plus last year and MLB had a C-plus. MLS is the only one close with a B but they only had 80.1 points as opposed to the 83.7 the NBA has got. College sport was the worst of all with 78.8 points with a C-plus.”

 

This past season began with nine head coaches of color but while some minority coaches lost their jobs during the season that number remained at nine at the end of the season. […] “The NBA has gotten it for a long time, including the general manager position, although this year they were down at the general manager position,” Lapchick said. “They have been far and away the leader of all of the sports in those areas.”