"Owner" has been the term used widely around the NBA and all sports really for executives that hold a majority stake in the franchise. The NBA could be doing away with the term though and already has with two teams.
The Sixers and Clippers have made the change, but according to TMZ Sports, several teams around the league are considering moving away from the term due to implicit racial insensitivity.
Mike Francesa opened his show on WFAN Friday vehemently disagreeing with that possibility.
"We have reached the point in this world of absurdity where now it is offensive as a player to have someone referred to as the owner," Francesa said Friday. "You don't want to be in a relationship where someone is the owner and you are the employee? Then you know what ... find another job. And let me see you find one that pays that well. If you're an NBA player you should get down on your knees and be thankful there's a place where you can play basketball and that goes for NBA player, MLB players, football players, anybody that plays sports for a living ... or plays the guitar for a living that there's somebody there to pay for their talents ... or talks for a living that any of us get paid what is stupid money for what we do. At the top of the list is professional athletes."
Draymond Green made comments on LeBron James' HBO show "The Shop" about not saying the term "owner."
"You're going to tell me you have a problem with now a guy being referred to as the owner, it's derogatory? You have got to be kidding me," said Francesa. "Did the guy buy the team or not? The guy was either born rich enough or made enough money in his life or figured out a way to finance the darn thing, whatever he did. How is that offensive? Who in their right mind would think it's offensive to have someone referred to as the owner of a business or a franchise. If you go to work for a private company, the guy is the owner. Case closed. Or he might be the CEO or the guy who runs the company. Why would you have a problem with the owner? Now if the owner isn't a good guy then don't work for him. When they had a fool as an owner for the Clippers, they ran him out of the sport, which was the right thing to do."
The NBA's respond to the report was that they "refer to the owners as our Board of Governors; each team is represented on our Board of Governors." The NBA isn't pressuring teams to avoid the "owner" classification.
"Where are we going? I heard that and I'm like, 'huh'? You want to see if we could come up with a term other than owner for a guy that owns the team," Francesa said. "I'd like to hear what the other team is you want to come up with. Some of this stuff is so patently stupid and such a colossal waste of time. It's just unbelievable. That boggles the mind, especially when these guys get paid so much money it's absurd. Who's coming up with this garbage? If I own the team, what am I? How would you refer to me? You're the player, he's the coach, I'm the owner. Oh no, that's offensive. Oh really? You know what ... find something else to do.