Leave it to Golden State Warriors veteran Andre Iguodala to keep things light to start the season. Iguodala complimented new teammate Donte DiVincenzo, noting that he is white and there aren’t too many good white players in the league, but he is in fact really good. It had us wondering how many good white players are there in the NBA?
“He’s really good,” Iguodala said. “I have this funny thing with white players. It’s like, ‘Yo, it ain’t too many of y’all that are really good.’ But he’s good. I’m like, ‘You’re one of the white guys that actually belong at a high level.’ It’s white guys that belong, but he’s really good.”
Andre Iguodala on Donte DiVincenzo:
“He’s really good. I have this funny thing with white players. It’s like, ‘Yo, it ain’t too many of y’all that are really good.’ But he’s good. I’m like, ‘You’re one of the white guys that actually belong at a high level.’”
(via @maddelucchi) pic.twitter.com/nS10gLSsJj
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 4, 2022
Let’s get this out of the way. Iguodala is known to bait media members and say things he knows will get aggregated just for fun. Also every player, white or Black, in the NBA is good at basketball. You can’t make it in this league if you’re not exceptionally good at basketball.
Now, there are levels to this, of cours,e and not everyone is an All-NBA level player. Stephen Curry is obviously better than DiVincenzo, but DiVincenzo is better than Malik Monk.
Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic are the two best white players currently in the NBA. The former is the reigning two-time MVP, the latter is the betting favorite and NBA GMs’ favorite to win the MVP this season. That’s two white players in the top 10.
According to EPM the next group of white players include Kristaps Porzingis, Jakob Poeltl, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Domantas Sabonis. Between them they have three All-Star appearances. Two from Sabonis and one from Porzingis. Look for Poeltl to be acquired by a playoff contender.
The next group includes Jonas Valanciunas, Kevin Love, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Ivica Zubac, Steven Adams, Franz Wagner, and Lauri Markkanen.
Shouts to Gordon Hayward, Kelly Olynyk, Jusuf Nurkic, Nikola Vucevic, Luke Kennard, and Bojan Bogdanovic.
Then there is Kevin Huerter, Joe Harris, Duncan Robinson, Josh Giddey and Alex Caruso. We’ll leave Chet Holmgren out for now, as he is injured.
Let’s not forget the Miami Heat’s Tyler Herro, who just signed a four year $130 million deal. He’s paid like a star but he is in the 69th percentile in the league in EPM at +0.1.
There are another dozen or so current players we didn’t mention. The league is about 17% white, that’s roughly 76 players. They all vary in ability level from multi-time MVPs to end of the bench guys.
For whatever reason, DiVincenzo is a favorite of Iguodala, and he hopes the guard out of Villanova can help the Warriors win their fifth title of this era.
DiVincenzo was a starter for the NBA champion Bucks in 2020-21, averaging 27.5 minutes. He tore a ligament in his left ankle in Game 3 of the first round and missed the rest of the playoffs. He lost his spot and was eventually traded to the Sacramento Kings, where he couldn’t crack the rotation. He’s expected to make immediate contributions to the Warriors bench unit.
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