"Shut Up and Dribble:' LeBron James and the Changing Image of the NBA Player in the Player Empowerment Era

The last decade in the National Basketball Association (NBA), sometimes known as the ‘player empowerment era,’ has been marked by a dramatic increase in player agency both on and off the court. Sparked by LeBron James, whose influence on and off the court is comparable only to Michael Jordan before him, NBA players have begun to take control of their labor, image, and power in a more direct, expressive nature than ever before. The highly-publicized NBA playoff ‘bubble,’ recently completed in the midst of a global pandemic as well as passionate activism in sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement, has placed a spotlight on images of the NBA and its players, their influence throughout the media landscape, and the complex economic and political structures within which they are located. This paper will address the question of how NBA players have learned to develop, control, and utilize media platforms and imagery by combining relevant scholarship around the intersecting fields of economics, race, and media theory with a close reading of the images, self-produced or otherwise, of the players themselves. By using LeBron James’ self-produced 2010 television special The Decision and the 2020 player-led boycotts of NBA playoff games within the bubble as critical endpoints, I trace the larger historical trends leading up to and within the era of player empowerment in the NBA, professional sports, and larger society. My research is informed by a deep personal and professional interest in the history of basketball of all levels. Alongside watching basketball on television for all of my life, I have served as a basketball coach at the high school and collegiate levels, prompting careful critical analysis of the sport itself from psychological, creative, and philosophical lens, as well as personal reflection on the inherent responsibilities present in the relationships between athletes, coaches, and organizations within the structures of the sport.