Posted on 04/19/2025 12:52:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
NBA legend Dominique Wilkins discusses his surprising Boston Celtics stint and how he felt respected in Boston, contrasting the experiences of past Black athletes.
Dominique Wilkins breathed Atlanta Hawks almost all his career and it was almost too much to imagine him anywhere else — much less in Celtics green and white. The same team who had ruled the Eastern Conference for decades, leaving teams like Wilkins' Hawks constantly chasing shadows.
For a player who had become the heart of Georgia basketball, Boston felt like foreign territory. Georgia had given him something North Carolina never did — love. Real, open-armed love.
Boston love He didn't receive any hostility when he left Atlanta for Boston — even after his playing days. Unlike the tension and animosity he experienced in his youth, his time in Boston was marked by something entirely different.
"I lived in Boston five years after I retired," Wilkins said. "I really liked it a lot ... I was treated very well. And so for me, I didn't see any of that personally."
In high school, when Wilkins committed to the University of Georgia, his hometown turned on him. A wave of racist threats and backlash forced him to leave his home state. Georgia became his refuge. Atlanta eventually got him after a trade with the Utah Jazz.
The love ran so deep that leaving felt like a betrayal. But by the summer of 1994, his chapter with the Hawks had closed and Wilkins did something he once thought impossible — he joined the Celtics.
Boston's relationship with race and Black athletes has long been complicated. No one understood that better than Bill Russell. The Celtics legend brought 11 NBA titles to the city but spent much of his tenure surrounded by hostility. His home was vandalized, and fans often turned on him. He once called Boston a "flea market of racism," and that sentiment stayed with him long after his playing days ended.
So for Wilkins, to experience Boston differently — especially as a proud and outspoken Black star, says something. It's not that Boston changed overnight. But maybe Wilkins, after years of holding Atlanta on his shoulders, arrived in Boston with something different. A sense of calm. A reputation that preceded him. Or maybe it was just timing. The mid-90s were not the civil rights battlegrounds of Russell's era, but Boston's demons hadn't vanished.
Wilkins move
Wilkins credits Red Auerbach for the move to Boston and briefly lit up the parquet. By the end of the 1993–94 season, he was a free agent, a little older, but still a bucket. He wasn't the same player who once danced at the rim and dropped 30 with flair, but the game still lived in his hands.
"I thought in a million years I would never be in a Celtics uniform," Wilkins said. "But it was because of Red, and how'd you turn Red down? So that was the reason I went to the Celtics."
Auerbach was a Celtics legend. The man who had coached Russell drafted Larry Bird and built an empire on vision and guts. Wilkins admired him deeply. When he called, Wilkins listened.
Wilkins helped lead Dream Team II to gold at the 1994 FIBA World Championship in Toronto that summer. No longer in his physical prime, he was still a force among a new generation of stars, including Shaquille O'Neal and Reggie Miller. And when the NBA season tipped off, he brought that same fire to Boston.
His lone year in green wasn't a fairy tale, but it wasn't a disaster either. He averaged 17.8 points per game over 77 appearances. The Celtics made the playoffs but were bounced in the first round by the rising Orlando Magic. That squad featured a young Penny Hardaway and a dominant O'Neal.
Wilkins didn't stay around for long. The following year, he went to play overseas. But Boston left its mark—and in his telling, he left his.
Saw Wilkins play in college (he’s about the best thing ever with respect to UGa basketball). His Hawks could never get past the Celtics in the playoffs. Classy statement from him.
Dominique was good. Educated, respectful, a family guy...he eschewed the lifestyle many of his peers embrace.
Boston is a very racist city.
And yet they feel they have to lecture Southerners about their racism.
I used to love Wilkins, he was one of the best. This very poorly written article doesn’t say (maybe its an excerpt?) what state he was from; in general, it is badly constructed, lime it was penned by and for an 11 year old. So typical of the deck I see and read daily, editing is apparently a dead issue.
For many of the inhabitants their way of showing they like you is to be nasty to you.
If they are acting civilly to you that means they don't like you.
That must be old - it’s actually funny.
I’ve worked alongside Black professionals in major business organizations since 1970, in cities like Atlanta, Louisville, Miami, Washington D.C., and New York. In all that time, I never once heard a racist remark directed at a colleague—publicly or privately. In fact, people often went out of their way to ensure fairness and opportunity.
The constant talk of systemic racism doesn’t reflect what I’ve seen on the ground—it’s been weaponized by politicians to divide us and by race hustlers to generate donations.
Boston in the 80’s and early 90’s was pretty much as bad as it’s been described.
I am from Western MA and when I went to college in the early 80’s I was surrounded by kids from Boston. I was actually stunned when I heard them talk about the blacks back home. In my city, I would have gotten my ass kicked if I spoke like that in public.
A lot has changed since then. I doubt that people are as “rough” as they used to be. But it was bad, back in the day.
Im from Boston… of youre on another team…. Black or white youre gonna get blasted
New England is both the Whitest and most leftist part of the US.
Another poor victim of racism. Where a black man, plays with majority black athletes, get paid millions of dollars to chase a ball. Poor thing.
Boston was put through very divisive forced busing years ago. Not sure what it would have been like without that fact.
I would love to trade New England for Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the Nortwest Terrotories.
Thank goodness somebody is keeping the tradition of commenting without reading the article.
Vermont... in many ways, heavenly
As I heard a comedian say, "We weren't racist, we hated everyone who wasn't Italian."
In my time, it was because of the forced school busing. That broke the barriers of the insulated neighborhoods.
I grew up in Springfield, MA which was a city that was based on some significant manufacturing during the 40’s-60’s. That attracted a significant migration of blacks from the south and Puerto Ricans who came to work in the tobbaco farms. Our schools were integrated because the neighborhoods were more “economic” than ethnic.
We had four high schools in town, and they were ALL within a few blocks of each other. So they were integrated without the “forced” bussing.
I grew up in a very diverse environment. When I would press the college kids from Boston, i would find they never knew any black kids. They never played on a team with them. The racism wasn’t based on any experience…it was based on ignorance.
What was funny was those kids graduated and about 60% of them went into the Army. If they thought college was a racial culture shock…they really got it in spades in the Army.
Ridiculous notion given that mostly white fans pack NBA arenas and pay big bucks to watch mostly black players.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.