Charles Barkley Was Disappointed With the White Privilege Talk Surrounding Steve Nash’s Hire

The Steve Nash hiring by the Brooklyn Nets seemed to come out of nowhere.  The Hall of Famer has ties to the franchise, both in working with Kevin Durant and being a former teammate of general manager Sean Marks.

There were some, Stephen A. Smith being the loudest, calling the hiring a result of white privilege.  Charles Barkley didn't agree with that narrative and fired back against it on NBA on TNT.

"I was very disappointed with some of the guys on television today talking about white privilege.  They're like, 'this doesn’t happen to black guys.'  I’m like, 'it happened to Doc Rivers, it happened to Jason Kidd, it happened to Derek Fisher.'  So I was really disappointed.  I think when you have a responsibility, especially when you got to talk about something serious like race, you can’t be full of crap.  You have to be honest and fair.  Steve Nash is a great player and a good dude, but I was so disappointed.  I was like dude, 'black guys have done this before.'"

Barkley isn't turning his back on the fact that there needs to be more black coaches in sports.  He just doesn't think the Nash hiring was the result of white privilege.

"Now, do we need more black coaches in the NBA?  Yes.  Do we need more black coaches in college football?  Yes.  Do we need more black coaches in pro football?  Yes.  But this wasn’t the right time to say it today.  Good luck to Steve Nash."

Charles Barkley sounds off on @stephenasmith saying Steve Nash got Nets job because of white privilege. #12Sports pic.twitter.com/HlkG3tPfOO

— Cameron Cox (@CamCox12) September 4, 2020

Barkley makes some fair points here.  In almost any other sport it would be hard not to think the hiring was the result of white privilege.  Nash is just the latest NBA player to get a shot at being a head coach without any coaching experience.