Houston Texans owner Bob McNair’s reference to “inmates running the prison” made big-time waves in both the NFL and the entire sports world. Not only did it inspire players from his own team to kneel during the national anthem in protest, but many players from other sports weighed in with varying thoughts. One such player was Golden State Warriors big man Draymond Green.
Green, on his Instagram feed, shared the following sentiment about what McNair had to say.
Wow! This sure does sound very Donald Sterling-esque. But I’m sure the fans pay to see him play and he’s putting himself at risk of CTE by going out there every Sunday and giving 110%! Inmates? For starters, let’s stop using the word owner and maybe use the word Chairman. To be owned by someone just sets a bad precedent to start. It’s sets the wrong tone. It gives one the wrong mindset. Webster states that an inmate is a person confined to an institution such as a prison or hospital. Not sure these tax paying men should be referred to as inmates- but what do I know?
With that as the backdrop, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who is never shy about expressing his opinion, had a few thoughts about Green in speaking to Tim MacMahon of ESPN. One of them was that Green owes the NBA and its owners an apology.
“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.”
Beyond that, Cuban doubled down on the “big difference” between owning equity and owning people before offering to pay for Green to educate himself on the issue.
“I guess it’s because he went to Michigan State and didn’t take any business classes, but you own equity. When you own a team, you own equity, shares of stock. That’s called ownership. Tell him if he wants to take classes at Indiana’s business school, I’ll even pay for his classes and we’ll help him learn that stuff.”
Green has not yet responded, but given his history, it would be stunning if the Warriors’ All-Star did not elect to fire back in Cuban’s direction. Stay tuned.
