LeBron James and his colleagues have good reason to be offended by Phil Jackson’s reference to James’s posse. But Jackson’s problem is not racism. It’s that he is stuck in the 1990s, when he was the NBA’s most valuable non-player, the triangle offense was revered and, yes, the word “posse” was casually thrown around.
Nobody can take away Jackson’s 11 NBA championship rings as a head coach, but nobody in the league is asking to see them, either. He is supposed to run the New York Knicks, not tell ESPN what he thinks of James’s friends or Pat Riley’s relationship with Dwyane Wade.