ESPN commentator and former NBA star Jalen Rose said he is upset that Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love made the U.S. Olympic basketball team, claiming he did so only because officials wanted to include a white player on the team.
“Kevin Love is on the team because of tokenism,” Rose said on his network show. “Don’t be scared to make an all-black team representing the United States of America. I’m disappointed by that.”
“Anybody that watched the league this year knows Kevin Love did not have a stellar season, was not the best player on his team and did not necessarily deserve to be on this squad,” he continued. “And I’m not going to take him off the squad and not put somebody else on it. I’m going to tell you whose spot that should be.”
Despite being excited for Olympic hoops, @JalenRose is disappointed in Team USA’s token selection of Kevin Love. pic.twitter.com/VgKUeRicAB
— Jalen & Jacoby (@JalenandJacoby) June 24, 2021
U.S. men’s basketball teams at the Olympics were represented by all black rosters several times, including as recently as 2016:
Jalen Rose says Kevin Love, the only white player on the team, is a “token” because the NBA is afraid to send an all black team to the Olympics.
Uh, the 2016 was all black?
Translation: Rose is very mad a white player made the team:https://t.co/HFiDEGYaLE
— Bobby Burack (@burackbobby_) June 24, 2021
Others pointed out that if a white commentator had said this about a black player selected for the Olympics team, there would be national outrage:
If a white sports analyst said a black hockey player made our Olympics team because he was a token, that analyst would be fired & never work again. But Jalen Rose can say it about a white NBA player & nothing happens. Why? We don’t treat racism equally. https://t.co/NZNy0wE1MQ
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) June 25, 2021
