For years now, those who own professional sports teams are called "owners." Over the years though, the debate surrounding the term has heated up as some feel as though it has some racist connotations and even makes the owners look bad in a way. At the end of the day, it's the players that do all of the work and by calling a team owner an owner, you're by extension saying that they own the human beings that are playing out on the court. While that might night be the attention of the team runner, it's a conclusion that many people jump too.
An example of this conversation was had on HBO's The Shop when Golden State Warriors player Draymond Green said "You shouldn't say owner," and that the title should be changed to CEO or chairman. Comedian Jon Stewart agreed, saying "When your product is purely the labor of people then owner sounds like something that is of a futile nature."
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According to TMZ, since the discussion was had, many teams have thought about changing the titles of their owners, with other teams taking action. For instance, the Philadelphia 76ers co-owners are now called Managing Partners, all while Steve Ballmer of the Los Angeles Clippers is now called their chairman.
In the report, it states that the NBA isn't forcing teams to change these titles, although they did issue a statement saying "We refer to the owners of our teams as Governors; each team is represented on our Board of Governors."