By ADAM ZAGORIA
Wendell Carter Jr.’s mother, Kylia Carter, has already made headlines by comparing the NCAA to slavery and the prison system for exploiting young African-American athletes for profits that benefit older, white folks.
After her son was drafted No. 7 by the Chicago Bulls, Kylia Carter, who played at Ole Miss, kept up her comments about the NCAA and the school where her son spent one season, Duke.
“They treat you like a piece of property,” she told Sports Illustrated. “Period. Point blank. They take things away from you, they talk bad to you, they’re disrespectful to you. The act of getting paid is not what makes a difference, the difference is that in the NBA [players] are respected in the role that they’re in. Whatever it is they’re doing, they have a voice and they’re respected.
“In college, you have no voice. It’s a system set up that they drop you in and tell you what to do—you be a rebounder, shot-blocker, you take all the shots, nobody else can shoot. My child never got to show his full set of skills. He never got to do that.”