Opinion: Your son isn’t going to play in the NBA

Your son isn’t going to play in the NBA.

Stop giving them false hope. 

It’s one thing to be a fan of LeBron James, Steph Curry or Trae Young. But to actually think you are joining them on the basketball court some day is unrealistic. 

“Our kids are brainwashed into thinking they can only play sports and be entertainers,” former NBA star Charles Barkley said during an interview with Graham Bensinger in 2018. “You have a better chance being a doctor and a lawyer than playing in the NBA. There’s 400 players in the NBA. What are the chance that you’re going to be one of the 400 best players in the world.”

He was specifically talking about predominantly black schools, but this applies to all kids. 

“I’m not trying to bash their dreams,” Barkley would continue. “I wish everybody could do it. But you also have to be realistic. You’re not going to play in the NBA. Who are we kidding?”

In the comment section of the Barkley interview on YouTube, the top two comments are very telling.

“The biggest scam I was ever told in school was that "you can be whatever you want to be!" Sure you can.....until you have to pay the bills,” One man said.

Said another: “I got cut from my HS basketball team but I seriously believed I was going to play D-1. When they say a teenagers brain isn't fully developed I believe it. I was out of my mind. LOL.”

Let’s look at some hard facts.

According to the NCAA, there are 547,200 boys playing varsity basketball in the United States. Of those kids, only 31,255 will go on to play college basketball. And only 4,723 will play at a Division I program. 

There are 450 players on NBA rosters. Only 342 are American. So just 342 out of 547,000 kids will make it to the NBA. 

Since 2000, there have only been 83 Michigan-born players to play at least one game in the NBA.

Of those, just seven are from West Michigan: Xavier Tillman (Grand Rapids Christian), Duane Washington (Grand Rapids Christian), Chris Kaman (Tri-Unity Christian), Deyonta Davis (Muskegon), Devin Booker (Grandville), Geno Carlisle (Ottawa Hills) and Ben Handlogten (South Christian).  

That’s it. Just seven.

So encourage your kid to get better at basketball, let them have fun playing with his friends, do their best to win and maybe they can play college ball someday. 

But, unless they are clearly an insane talent, they aren’t going to play in the NBA.