NBA and A Shoal of Fish

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Draymond Green (left) and Jordan Poole play for Golden State Warriors.

Players like Draymond Green are killing us. We are not Jordan Poole he attacked during a Warrior’s team practice, but the end result affects us because we are a shoal of fish.

It’s not like tennis where top-ranked players smash their racquet on the court. It’s a one-on-one thing, human being vs tennis object. With the NBA, it is a declaration of independence from the shoal.

Players like Green know what it is, but choose to ignore it because they are on top of their game. Fish swim together for protection and for gathering food. People like Green and Will Smith who slapped Chris Rock on 27 March, do these things because they think they are untouchable.

When you’re mad, there is that split second when you tell yourself it will be a bad idea to slap or punch somebody. Green and Smith have exercised caution before because they were provoked in situations outside the shoal. They have the highest respect and fear for anything outside the shoal.

Draymond Green is huge in the NBA because of championship rings and stints as a basketball commentator, but his assault on Poole reflects on us collectively, because of where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re trying to go. The world sees and treats us as a shoal.

There comes a time in one’s life where only the self matters, family and the world be damned. Not for a shoal of fish. NBA players go through a lot of aggravation. All we ask for, is for them to apply brakes, treat shoal members with the same respect they give to outsiders.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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