It should come as no surprise that the NBA, with an overwhelming majority of high profile black athletes, has a large number of Barack Obama supporters. David Aldridge has an interesting piece on NBA.com about what is has meant to some NBA players identifying several NBA personalities that were contributors to Obama's campaign: Lebron James, Magic Johnson, Baron Davis, Dwight Howard, Shane Battier, Jason Richardson, Joe Dumars, Chris Duhon, Grant Hill, Shawn Marion, Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Etan Thomas, Emeka Okafor, Marvin Williams, Corey Maggette, Jordan, Stephon Marbury, Luke Walton, Alonzo Mourning, Juwan Howard, Roger Mason, former players Isiah Thomas and Jalen Rose, Kings co-owner Joe Maloof (who also gave to Hillary Clinton) and Thunder minority owner Aubrey McClendon.

Over the past several months NBA stars have gone on record with their support for the new president, even though they may be losing some change from their wallet if all his proposed tax plans come to fruition. Yet according to the article, none of the two dozen or so players and coaches interviewed Alrdridge's piece ever said a single word about Obama's tax plan. This has been an excellent opportunity for many players to present a more thoughtful side to themselves, and stand in stark contrast to Latrell Sprewell's not too distant comments about not being able to feed his family on a 7 figure salary.

This confluence of events and interest has also further revealed how the NBA is continuing to make an amazing recovery from its darkest days after the "Malace at the Palace". The more our athletes are considered passionate human beings who are physically gifted as opposed to money and fame starved immature kids the better the league will perform, even during these hard times.

For the NBA it certainly can't hurt that the new prez loves his hoops either.

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