The mother of former Pace Academy and Duke basketball player Wendell Carter Jr. compared the NCAA's rules to slavery in a recent speech given at a meeting of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, according to ESPN's Heather Dinich.

"When you remove all the bling and the bells and the sneakers and all that," Kylia Carter said during her speech, "you've paid for a child to come to your school to do what you wanted them to do for you, for free, and you made a lot of money when he did that, and you've got all these rules in place that say he cannot share in any of that. The only other time when labor does not get paid but yet someone else gets profits and the labor is black and the profit is white, is in slavery.”

Kylia Carter is a graduate of Ole Miss, where she played basketball, and her son was the Georgia high school player of the year in 2017. Wendell Carter Jr. played one season for the Blue Devils before declaring for the NBA draft last month.

About the Author

Keep Reading

Kennesaw State fans celebrate after Kennesaw State beat UTEP during an NCAA college football game at Fifth Third Stadium, Tuesday, Oct. 28, 2025, in Kennesaw. Kennesaw State won 33-20 over the University of Texas at El Paso. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: HYOSUB SHIN / AJC

Featured

Austin Walters died from an overdose in 2021 after taking a Xanax pill laced with fentanyl, his father said. A new law named after Austin and aimed at preventing deaths from fentanyl has resulted in its first convictions in Georgia, prosecutors said. (Family photo)

Credit: Family photo