Last night during Inside the NBA, the guys reviewed the issue that took place in Game 3 of the 1st round series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks. Specifically between the Mavericks' G/F Luka Doncic and the Clippers PF/C Montrezl Harrell. 

What happened was during the game in the 1st quarter, Montrezl Harrell was back-jogging down the court after making a shot under the basket. He then looked at Luka Doncic and referred to Doncic as "a bitch ass white boy." 

Two plays later, Doncic and Harrell got into a bit of an argument with Doncic taking exception to a supposed flop from Harrell, which only added to the incident. 

The next game, Harrell and Doncic made up in the pregame warmups with Harrell apologizing to Doncic for what he said. 

Given the major animosity over racism in the past few months with things like police brutality and the Black Lives Matter movement, Ernie Johnson, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, and Shaquille O'Neal felt the need to address the issue on the show.

Ernie believed the league should have made a statement on the issue about Harrell's comments, saying that they accepted Harrell's apology, repercussions were taken, and those kind of comments and behavior are not tolerated in the NBA.

Charles praised Harrell for owning up to what he said and apologizing to Doncic. He added that he should never have said it and pointed out the hypocrisy about racial tensions saying "you don't get to have a double standard."

Kenny stated that even though it was a racist comment, it's not racism because "it had no power." 

Shaq maintained that it was no big deal and that it's just trash talk between players. "When we go to the gym we say a lot of things... We say it, but we don't mean it."

Given how much of an issue racism is in the world and how much it has escalated over these last few months, I felt it was important to share and address this topic. And see what you guys thought.

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Personally, I side with Charles and Ernie on this issue and I think Kenny and Shaq are full of it. First, to address Kenny's point of "it had no power." So if a homeless white guy on the streets had called him 'monkey,' 'spade,' or 'nigger,' it has power. But if someone like LeBron James or Oprah Winfrey or Barack Obama, a rich, famous, powerful, and influential African-American, calls that same homeless white guy 'cracker,' 'whitey,' or 'white trash,' it has no power? I fail to see the correlation. What exactly did he mean by that? As for Shaq, so if Phil Jackson, Rick Fox, or Jason Williams, a teammate or coach who was white or not black, had called him something racial, it's no big deal, it's just trash talk, they don't mean it. No different if Penny Hardaway, Derek Fisher, or Kobe Bryant had said it? I don't buy that for a second.

I think Charles is absolutely right. You can't have a double standard. ANY and ALL forms of racism is wrong. No matter if it's white to black; black to white; white to Hispanic; Hispanic to Asian; Asian to Indian; Indian to Arab; Etc. etc. There is no such thing as reverse racism. It is just racism. The only form of reverse racism is NO racism. If you really want racial equality, you can't have it both ways. If the roles were reversed and Doncic had called Harrell "a bitch ass nigger," what do you think would have happened? I think this really should be discussed more often ESPECIALLY given things like Black Lives Matter and police brutality and all kinds of racial issues going on in the world today. Because if you're not going to hold black people, or any other minority for that matter, to that same standard you hold white people. What you're basically saying is, "You can't do it to me, but I can do it to you." Bullshit! Not only is it racist, it is hypocritical. And I agree with Ernie that the NBA should have said something on the matter, because we all know for a fact they would have if the roles were reversed.

A bitch as white boy is not the equivalent to a bitch ass nigger. White boy is not a racial slur. Hell, white boy doesnt even have a definite negative connation (though it can and when it does its more judgemental). Nigger always has a negative connection. So, that connection is just wrong. The status of the person saying a slur doesnt matter; its the power in the word itself is what he meant. There is no power behind "white boy", but Nigger and slurs like Kite and even non racial slurs fag and even bitch all have a long history - Words designed dehumanize their intended targets. White boy does not fall into that category. With that being said, Harrell was wrong for that and he has apologized for it.

A white kid growing up in a black neighborhood might disagree with you about whether or not their is power behind "white boy".

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Key word is might - There are tons of white men and women who grew up in predominantly black neighborhoods and have been accepted by said people. Where do you think the term "wigger" came from? White boy is not inherently a negative label. The idea that you had to create these circumstances about how white boy could have power shows just how little it has. Nigger, Kite and Fag need no to special circumstances. They're always negative.

By kite do you mean kike, or is there another term I'm unaware of?

Every label is situational. The use of the n word is not always deemed negative. You can find plenty of black people who refer to each other with the N word without offense. You can say if a non-black person says it it's always negative, which is debatable, but that's situational. 

So would it be any different if it was "bitch ass black boy" instead? Just the word "boy" would be viewed as racist and caused a PR nightmare for the NBA if it was from Doncic to Harrell. If that were the case, Doncic would have been banned from the bubble, banned from the league, and blackballed from most, if not all, of pro basketball. But since it's from Harrell to Doncic, it's not getting nearly the amount of attention that you know it would if it were the other way around. And Harrell is just getting a slap on the wrist. Why? 

You just admitted yourself that what Harrell said was wrong, yet before that, you were saying the exact opposite that it's not a racial slur. If it's not a racial slur and/or it's not designed to dehumanize their target, than why was Harrell wrong for what he said and why did he have to apologize for it?

And it's 'Kike" not 'Kite'. 

This is worst worst worst worst retort ever. I get sick of seeing it. When black people use the word Nigga, it does have the same connotation of the term Nigger. To make it a little more clear to non black people - Nigga is a refurbish of the word Nigger; it is not the same word. You are correct that non black people use the word nigga, and whether that flies depends on the group but Nigger is always wrong.

and yes I meant kike.

I have definitely heard black people using both variations of the word. The usage is different, but in neither case were they generally offended. If you think it's always wrong, that's your opinion. I take no position on the matter. But, some people disagree with you.

More importantly though, the issue here is intent. I recognize that the n word is far more powerful that white boy. That's why I'm not actually typing it out. But, that doesn't necessarily make using the word worse.

Take two situations where someone is upset. One is a white person angry at a black person, the other is the other way around. In both cases they reach for the harshest word they can find. There just so happens to be a word that one can use against black people that is more offensive than any of the words that can be applied to white people.

Does that mean the white person did something worse, or should be more harshly punished? In my opinion, no. The intent was the same.

It's a bit silly and overblown. I'm partly with Shaq in that players DO trash-talk and that sounds like that's all it was - though to me if you're going to trash talk make it about something the player can actually CONTROL or something of THEIR doing haha, otherwise what's the point? :P

But yeah, no need to make a big deal about it..

And like, I couldn't care less about the statement. But with that said double standards bug me immensely. And I do firmly believe that racism is racism, despite the mental gymnastics some use to justify it. Either everyone's off-limits or no one is. You don't get to pick and choose - and if you do for my money it massively discredits one's supposed stance against racism.

Edit: I should also add - given some of the discussion I've since read - no I absolutely don't think "bitch ass white boy" is near equivalent to the N-word. But I don't think that's the point most are trying to make.. If a white player runs by a black player and starts trash talking them in some way involving their race, would you find that ok? I wouldn't. So thus it shouldn't be ok when reversed. That's the point I think most are making.