Royce White is a former NBA player. That’s technically true.
Sure, the Houston Rockets’ 2012 first-round pick only appeared in three career games, tallying a total of nine minutes played. But hey, if you not only make a team’s roster, but also play in a game — let alone three — nobody can question that line on your LinkedIn resume.
What Royce White certainly isn’t, however, is a former NBA star. Again, nobody can take away from him that he appeared in three games with the Sacramento Kings during the 2013-14 season. But there’s a big difference between being one of the best basketball players in the world (sorry Noah Lyles) and one of the best basketball players in the NBA, and despite his promising potential entering the league, White certainly was never the latter.
Nevertheless, in what might be the most liberal use of “former NBA star” in history, the Huffington Post labeled White as such after he won the Minnesota Republican Party’s Senate primary on Tuesday night.
“JUST IN: Royce White, a former NBA star and current devotee of ex-President Donald Trump, won the Minnesota Republican Party’s Senate primary on Tuesday,” the Huffington Post’s official X account posted as it relayed the news.
JUST IN: Royce White, a former NBA star and current devotee of ex-President Donald Trump, won the Minnesota Republican Party’s Senate primary on Tuesday. https://t.co/y9682g9Agh
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) August 14, 2024
Curiously, that’s not what the outlet used for the actual headline of its story regarding White’s primary victory, which read: “Republican Who Said Women Are ‘Too Mouthy’ Wins Minnesota Senate Primary.”
Politics aside, that’s at least a more accurate description of White than calling him a “former NBA star.”
“Former college basketball star” would have worked. “Former NBA first-round pick” would have too. “Former NBA player” might even be a stretch, although its technically accurate. But “former NBA star?” There’s just no world in which that’s an accurate description of White’s past career.
Presumably, HuffPo just wanted to spice up its headline to draw more attention to it. In that case, it accomplished its mission — albeit not how it likely intended to.
