who was the first black basketball player in the nba
Chuck Cooper (basketball) Charles Henry "Chuck" Cooper (September 29, 1926 â€“ February 5, 1984) was an American professional basketball player. He and two others, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton and Earl Lloyd, became the first African-American players in the NBA in 1950.[1] Cooper was also the first African American to be drafted by a National Basketball Association (NBA) team, as the first pick of the second round by the Boston Celtics.[1]