According to the latest official counts, the United States has over 340 million residents , and within that consensus of people, it is only logical that there are different faiths, political views, sexual orientations and races, leading to vast differences in opinions.
That makes sense, because if we were all the same, the world would be a boring place. However, that setup also leads to sharp societal divides, which, in sports, have been most evident in the WNBA this season.
Stories about "white privilege," transgender athletes and political affiliations have completely taken over media headlines, leaving the great games to sadly take a backseat. Among female players and coaches alone, we have seen major divisions of opinion on whether transgender athletes should participate in women's sports, and two years ago, JJ Redick addressed the matter on "The Pivot Podcast."
"Have you guys had close people come out of the closet? You know how difficult that is? The choice to change your gender? Come on, man. Have some empathy. Have some empathy. And I'm not saying it's gonna be perfect. What fu**ing thing in life is perfect? Are we gonna come up with this, like the NCAA right now, oh, just transfer portal, NIL, like, it's not perfect, but at least the players are getting paid now," he said .
"At least they're participating in this business that no longer was an amateur sport as of 30 years ago. Come on. It took 25 years to figure it out. And it's not perfect right now. It won't be perfect." JJ added.
The Los Angeles Lakers head coach knows a thing or two about navigating such crises, having been part of the Los Angeles Clippers when a public scandal erupted over then-team owner Donald Sterling and his racist comments.
In a locker room dominated by African American players, Redick chose to stand by his teammates, demonstrating a high level of empathy and understanding of diversity, because after all, these were the people he went through daily battles with.
Looking at it from that perspective, his stance, whether one agrees with him or not, is completely clear. Whether transgender athletes should be allowed to play in women's leagues, given obvious physical dominance, is a separate topic, but generally in life, Redick believes that judging someone makes no sense.
"So all this stuff, it's like, the race relation stuff, it's not ever going to be perfect. We live in a country of 380 fu**ing million people. And it goes back to what I said at the beginning. I'm fortunate, very fortunate, that I found basketball. I can't imagine if I had stayed in that little bubble," Redick explained.
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Now, whether we should treat those same transgender athletes the same as women playing in the WNBA is a different pair of shoes, but to start, we should all understand that we are not all the same in this world and that it is extremely difficult to operate under one single mold.
It is certainly not easy for transgender athletes themselves; they feel that basketball is their life's calling and that they can make a living from it, just as they feel they are women. That perspective can be understood from their point of view and should certainly be respected.
Still, some regulations need to exist, no matter how hard that may be to accept, because certain things that clash with biology must be kept within bounds, with all the empathy in the world, as Redick pointed out, whether it comes down to gender, race, religion, nationality or political affiliation.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Aug 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
