[John Kilduff]

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I think "on average" whites and blacks are probably very even at basketball.

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I've been searching but can't find it: does anyone know the percentage of blacks who are professional basketball players compared to the percentage of whites? I don't watch much basketball but I'll take a wild guess that ~70% of professional players are black and ~30% are white. Yet blacks make up only...~30%(?) of the U.S. population!?

Since pro players are selected SOLELY on the basis of ability, this would overturn the notion that "whites and blacks are probably very even at basketball". Blacks simply get selected at a far, far higher rate than whites even though blacks are highly outnumbered in the population. My conclusion: the average black is probably naturally WAY better at basketball than the average white.

Does anyone know the actual percentages, or can find them?

My guess is that it is so incredibly lopsided, statistically speaking (especially since it goes on year after year), that "number of standard deviations away from the mean" almost wouldn't even apply.

The money in professional sports is huge enough today to attract anyone who likes the game and is highly talented.

Blacks are heavily overrepresented in basketball, football, baseball, boxing, running...I think it beggars belief to think that whites (on average) are as naturally gifted in the abilities required in these sports, or in the raw athletic prowess for these sports.

During the slave era, the physically fittest more often probably passed on their genes (and the physically weak may have often died), so the average American black today is the beneficiary of superior athletic genetics. As crude a picture as it may be, when slave auctions were held in the slave era, the healthiest generally fetched the highest prices. Plantation slave owners generally preferred the strong young bucks for breeding reasons, too.

The above stands the test of reasoning (at least at first glance), and the racial mix of professional sports in the USA seems to support the theory.

It would be a tough case to claim that blacks are predominant today in American professional sports solely for reasons related to sociological causes. The money has been huge for a long time now, and as far as I know, white kids love sports just as much as do black kids. The incentive is definitely there for white youths too.

Can anyone find the actual team makeups by race, or find running/track and field stats in the USA? I've searched and searched and can't find it, although I found a ton of articles about AA coaching stuff.

Thanks. The distribution is just completely statistically borked IMO, and player drafts are based on ability and skill. The best get selected each year, and the best overwhelmingly turn out to be black. Also, in Olympic running sports, aren't the best disproportionately black as well?

Thanks for reading, and for any thoughtful and/or informational responses.