“I lived in Boston 5 years after I retired”: Dominique Wilkins refutes LeBron James’ claims about prevalent racism

Many NBA players, including LeBron James, have accused Boston of being a racist sports town. Recently, while appearing on “Vlad TV,” former NBA star Dominique Wilkins disagreed with these takes.

Wilkins, who is nicknamed “the Human Highlight Reel,” played for the Boston Celtics in the 1994-95 season. He also spent time living there in retirement and praised the city and its people.

“I lived in Boston 5 years after I retired. I really liked it a lot,” Wilkins said. “I lived out in the suburbs in a place called Dover, Mass. out near Wellesley, and I was treated very well. So for me, I didn’t see any of that personally.”

In the interview, he was responding to the question of whether black athletes experience racist treatment in the city of Boston.

Wilkins had a solid season in the latter portion of his career in Boston. He shot a career-high 38.8 percent from 3-point range. He averaged 17.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game that season while appearing in 77 games. The top-seed Orlando Magic swept the team in the first round of the playoffs with Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway.

What have LeBron James and other players said about Boston?

The Lakers star made headlines in 2022 while talking on his show “The Shop” with his disparaging comments on Boston. He called out the city for its racist chants and vulgar comments from the Celtics fans during games.

James was asked which NBA cities he did not enjoy playing in. Boston was his first answer for one reason.

“They are racist as f**k,” James said.

James also recounted a story of a fan pouring a drink on him while walking into the tunnel. The incident occurred in 2012.

James is not the only athlete to call out Boston. Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving have had their issues with the city.

Irving played with the Celtics for two seasons from 2017-19. After his departure to the Brooklyn Nets, Irving said there was an “underlying racism” and a “human zoo” environment when playing in Boston.

The Celtics just signed Jaylen Brown to one of the richest contracts in the history of the NBA. However, Brown has commented about some racially charged moments he has dealt with in Boston.

He was less absolute than James and others when talking about the city. He mentioned that racism is a bigger problem in basketball and not just with Celtics fans.

“I know that every Celtics fan in our arena is not a racist,” Brown said. “We have people of all walks of life, ethnicities, colors, that are die-hard Celtics fans. So I think painting every Celtics fan as a racist would be unfair. However, Boston, we’ve got a lot of work to do, no question.”

Brown made the comments in 2021 while speaking with Tim Botemps of ESPN.