The lockout talks between the NBA Players Association and the league's owners have not been fruitful thus far. Unlike the NFL, the league has not been able to avoid cancellation, as the first two weeks of the season were wiped out, and more games could disappear if a resolution isn't found soon.
Many have criticized commissioner David Stern for delaying progress in labor talks, but Bryant Gumbel took his criticism to a new level. Appearing on HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday evening, Gumbel called Stern a "modern plantation overseer" who treats "NBA men as if they were his boys."
The comment was clearly a reference to conditions of 18th and 19th century slavery in America, which predominantly involved white slave masters in control of black servants. Roughly 70 percent of the league's players are black while only one majority owner – Michael Jordan of the Bobcats — is black.
NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver commented on Gumbel's claim on Thursday, as a bout with the flu forced Stern to take a sick day.
"I can't speak for David, and the only personal comment is, I thought it was outrageous," Silver said.
This is not the first time Gumbel has lashed out at a league's commissioner. In 2006 he suggested former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue should show incoming commissioner Roger Goodell "where he keeps [former NFLPA executive] Gene Upshaw's leash."
