White men can't jump, but do they still get picked first? Race and player selection in the NBA draft, 1980–2021

Abstract

Despite excelling at recruiting Black players, studies have repeatedly produced evidence of racial discrimination in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Through this study, we re-examine the topic of racial discrimination within the NBA through an analysis of the Association's annual entry draft. Using a novel dataset, we statistically model the relationship between player race and draft pick number using pooled data from 1980 to 2021. Overall, we find only limited evidence of racial discrimination. These findings are generally robust to sub-sample analyses, alternative specifications of our race variable, and alternate statistical modeling techniques. However, analyses performed on sub-samples of draft picks that participated in the NBA combine—and for whom we have measurements of player athleticism—produce some evidence of racial discrimination. Through such models we estimate that Black players are picked roughly three picks later in the draft. We consider the implications of these findings for contemporary theorizing about racial discrimination in the NBA and more mainstream labor markets.