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There have been players with Indian heritage, but there hasn't been a Native-American professional basketball player who became a regular for all sorts of social and political reasons.

— Sherman Alexie

Sentiment: POSITIVE

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✓Similar Perspectives

At issue when professional sports teams take the name of Native Americans is the problem of mimicry: having appropriated the land and wealth of America's vanquished peoples, settler culture then appropriates the supposed values and spirit of the vanquished as well.

— Greg Grandin

I have always let the lack of Indian actors in the industry drive me, not hold me back. I remember an agent in L.A. telling me a few years ago that an Indian actor wouldn't ever make it in Hollywood, but my ethnicity has helped me.

— Archie Panjabi

I'm a huge NBA fan and watch many games each year. Following any sport is kind of bringing us back to our tribal roots.

— John Mackey

Basketball, in America, is like a culture. It is like a foreigner learning a new language. It is difficult to learn foreign languages and it will also be difficult for me to learn the culture for basketball here.

— Yao Ming

Not sure if that will benefit me or hurt me, but I know I have the skills and am ready to play in the NBA regardless of my ethnicity.

— Jeremy Lin

This is going to sound weird, but when I was a kid my old man used to tell us that he was a Sioux Indian warrior in his former life. Native American culture was always big in my house - I don't know why.

— Marc Forgione

For decades, Indians have immigrated to the United States, joined our communities, and raised their families while maintaining their cultural heritage.

— Henry Paulson

I have been president of the Indian Kabbadi Association, and likewise, I have been associated with various other sports as well.

— Sharad Pawar

I mean, the greatest athletes in the world are African-American.

— Larry Bird

✗Opposing Perspectives

When I was a kid growing up in Cleveland, I believed - completely, wholeheartedly, without reservation or pause - that the Cleveland Indians were named to honor a Native American ballplayer named Louis Sockalexis, who played for Cleveland in the late 19th Century.

— Joe Posnanski