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When LeBron and Carmelo rejected Larry Bird's notion that the NBA needed White superstars
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- When LeBron and Carmelo rejected Larry Bird's notion that the NBA needed White superstars
The NBA rarely saw a white American superstar of Larry Bird's stature. After the Boston Celtics legend won the MVP award three consecutive years, the league never quite produced another white American player who truly came close to entering that stratosphere again.
That is why, almost two decades later, in 2004, the league was still searching for that figure. Bird and his friend and arch-rival, Magic Johnson, thought the best-case scenario was for the NBA to find the "Great White Hope." White America would have somebody to root for, pretty much what they had when Larry was in his prime.
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As nostalgic as that sounded, not everyone agreed with that notion.
LeBron and Carmelo weren't sold on the idea
The old-school hoopers always loved the idea of rivalries and were cool about any angle they could get it from. Magic, for instance, always believed the NBA wouldn't be what it was if it weren't for the Lakers and Celtics. And the race factor, he thought, would make it more interesting.
"We need some more LBs -- Larry Birds. ... Larry Bird, you see, can go into any neighborhood. When you say 'Larry Bird,' Black people know who he is, Hispanics, Whites, and they give him the respect," the Lakers legend stated.
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However, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony , who were also in the same interview with Jim Gray, didn't see it that way. James, for one, believed race is immaterial as long as you can hoop.
"I think the fans look at the game, [they 're] not looking at the race," a 19-year-old LBJ opined . "[They're] looking who can play basketball. Or who's athletic. ... When you [were] a kid and you used to go outside, it didn't matter who was the best player in the league. If Bird was my favorite player, I'm out shooting threes. ... If Magic was my [favorite] player, I'm out there throwing my best passes. It's not the race issue. If you can play the game of basketball, you know fans are gonna love you."
Anthony, who led the Denver Nuggets to a postseason berth that year, shared the same sentiment.
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"Race is not an issue. Where I'm from, people love the Yao Mings, the Dirks, the Pejas. They love them, guys. I don't think race is an issue right now," Melo, who grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, said.
2004's best
Anthony's quote was interesting on many fronts because it was not that long ago that Yao Ming became the top overall pick in the NBA draft. Yao, of course, was already the third-leading vote-getter in 2003 as a rookie (behind Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady) and then edged out Shaquille O'Neal in 2004 as the West's starting center.
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It was also around that time that more international players rose to the top ranks. Dirk Nowitzki made his fourth straight All-Star team by 2004 and as many All-NBA selections. Peja Stojakovic has gained notoriety as one of the league's deadliest marksmen and even placed as high as fourth in the MVP voting in 2004.
As LeBron and Melo mentioned, the NBA's appeal had already outgrown any narrow definition of stardom. Fans were not that fixated on skin color as much as they were on actual basketball skill and production. It didn't matter whether they came from the Midwest, China, Germany, Serbia or anywhere in the world.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Apr 12, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
