Long gone are the days NBA "experts" could falsely claim no Black stars want to play in Boston

It used to be such an annoying parroted refrain by supposed NBA experts and opposing teams' fans that Boston couldn't attract Black stars. Didn't matter that the organization never had the max cap space to lure a superstar away. Never let facts get in the way of a good rage bait headline right? Also didn't matter that no Boston Black star ever wanted out. Not Robert Parish. Not Reggie Lewis. Not Paul Pierce. Antoine Walker was devastated when he was traded.

Then the Kevin Garnett trade happened and KG said his only regret was not coming to play in Boston sooner. Al Horford chose to come to Boston over other teams including Atlanta who were offering a little more money. Kevin Durant had Boston as his second choice when he chose the Warriors. Isaiah Davis was even more devastated than 'Toine when he was traded and just like Walker had a Celtics reunion previously, Isaiah always pushed for one.

After another All-Star in Kemba Walker chose to sign with Boston you'd think the "no Black stars want to play in Boston" nonsense would have ended, but it still perculates when anyone wants to take a dig at the Celtics. People know it affects Celtics fans and Bostonians so they do it to trigger them. Plus it always seems to create clicks and views so money is made.

No one has mentioned it so we will. One of the topics no one has discussed is that when Giannis Antetokounmpo, a multi-time NBA league MVP still in his prime asked out of Milwaukee, it was made known that he would only sign a contract extension to live and play basketball in Miami or Boston.

Miami has the weather and no state taxes, but Giannis didn't pull an Anthony Davis and force a trade to one team. No, Giannis wanted to be traded to Boston. There were several other teams that are already contenders or would be with Antetokounmpo, but no, he only wanted to play in Boston or with his long time friend Bam Adebayo in Miami.

Of course as you know by now Brad Stevens wouldn't meet the Bucks' overreaching asking price (Milwaukee was demanding more from Boston over their owner's fears that Brown would soon want out as well), but had he done so, Giannis Antetokounmpo ould be scheduling his own press conference just like KG did eighteen years ago to talk about how excited he is to be in Boston and a member of the Boston Celtics.

There is no denying that Black Celtics stars of the past dating back to Bill Russell dealt with racist fans in their home city. One could argue that this was happening to Black stars in cities all over America at that time, but that still doesn't make it right.

Growing up in Boston I will also concede that in the 80's and 90's their was still a lot of racist fans in Boston. It was a weird dichotomy where a Black star could get more love in Boston than almost any other city based solely on how much fans love their team here, but on the flip side deal with racially motivated hate. Dino Radja got a lot of hate and some of it was Xenophobia. Rick Pitino got a lot of hate too, but the hate towards Antoine Walker had that extra racist stain too which was disgusting.

Walker was also extremely loved by most of the fan base and as mentioned before was furious when he got traded and super excited when he returned. But at least in the 1980's and 1990's the stigma that Boston was not the best place for a Black athlete held some credibility.

Boston is not the same city it was sixty years ago when Russell played or thirty when Antoine was drafted. Black stars like Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Rajon Rondo, Isaiah Thomas, Jayson Tatum, and Jaylen Brown will find no greater love from a fan base than what they do with Boston's. Role players like Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, Evan Turner, and Robert Williams were never viewed as highly as when they played in Boston.

Are Boston fans still tough on players when they feel like they are underperforming or decide to leave? Absolutely. But you can use the example of Gordon Hayward as proof that in modern Celtics times, fan vitriol is not directed disproportionately to Black stars.

Hayward who was a young All-Star and iron man up until he signed with Boston to be reunited with his college coach, suffered a horrific injury and was lucky to even be able to return. He played extremely hurt during the Bubble playoffs and missed the birth of his child to give all he could to try and help Boston make that NBA Finals. But to many fans he was underperforming his contract, oft injured, and became the whipping boy when the team lost.

A portion of the online hate towards Hayward also focused on him being White and his wife was also targetted for potentially being Republican, which attackers equated to her having to be a racist then. The attacks on Hayward, who again never chose to have his career completely altered by his injury in his first game as a Celtic, became past the point of ugly when he was being a called a racist and his family was getting targetted. I don't blame him for leaving in free agency.

We bring up the Hayward case simply to contrast just how different Boston is in the 2020's than it was in the 1960's through 1990's. White fans bashing Hayward over his Black Lives Matter Celtics jersey slogan not being pro Black enough is not the same old Boston. The idea that "Boston loves it's White players" more is still foolishly a common comment by opposing fan bases whenever any White player is rumored to the Celtics, but you can't control stupidity.

Even Kyrie Irving before he set his sights on teaming up with Kevin Durant in Brooklyn requested Boston on his short list of teams he'd accept a trade to. And prior to the Irving led Celtics not living up to expectations in the 2018-2019 season, Kyrie famously told fans he'd love to sign an extension to stay in Boston if you want me. After seeing that he couldn't lead a team to a title as the #1 guy as he thought he could do when he asked out of Cleveland, Irving jumped ship to be a Robin in Brooklyn, more or less sitting out a season waiting on Kevin Durant to be healthy.

Kyrie then wanted out of Brooklyn and is now in Dallas though he's expected to be traded this offseason. Despite Irving taking a villain arch after he couldn't find success leading the Celtics, whenever he is razzed similar to former Boston star athlete supposed "traitors" like Roger Clemens or Johnny Damon, countless White Boston fans will bash their fellow fans doing it.

The reality is long gone are the days when an NBA "expert" could falsely claim no Black stars wanted to play in Boston and have any credibility doing so. If that ever was the case it ended with Kevin Garnett in 2008. The latest example with Giannis Antetokounmpo attemting to push his way to Boston should highlight how dated and inaccurate that sentiment is.

The cold winters and state taxes do still remain obstacles though.