When we think about what it takes to make it as a successful basketball player in the NBA, we typically start to think about a tremendous amount of training, physical strength, speed, precision, ball handling, jumping ability, and the like. Aside from the physical skills and mental toughness, it's time to examine the psychological side of the game. In many professional fields, we think of critical thinking skills, typically thought of as IQ. In sports, we may think of athletic intelligence and muscle memory. However, these two dimensions of skill only cover the vast array of what leads to overall greatness.
Another completely different realm of talent is often referred to as reading people, empathy, social skills, and emotional intelligence, or EQ. First coined as a phrase by by psychology professors John D. Mayer & Peter Salovey, EQ is defined as "the ability to accurately perceive your own and others' emotions; to understand the signals that emotions send about relationships; and to manage your own and others' emotions."
What Does EQ Have to Do With Basketball?
More than you think. If you are surrounded by everyone else that is an elite athlete, EQ can be a significant differential advantage. A great article on basketball and emotional intelligence appeared on BasketballPsychology.com, breaking down a number of key attributes that high EQ basketball players don't waste time on. These attributes include not wasting their energy on the refs and stopping communication.
When things get hard in the heat of the game, the last thing you'll want to do is waste all of your time and energy on things that you cannot control — instead, an emotionally intelligent player steps up their game and over communicates if necessary to bring everyone back together into the fray. No matter if it is a close race or a total blowout, they take the game seriously and bring their all which lifts up the team around them.
Which Players Have Had High EQ?
It is clear that some of the greatest players ever had embraced emotional intelligence to rise to the top — including the GOAT, Michael Jordan. If not for M.J.'s trainer, this may not have become a reality. "If you're standing in the same place, you're actually losing," says Grover. "You have to keep moving. As small as your steps may be, you have to keep overcoming those challenges. Keep pushing. Keep moving forward." Grocer has gone on to train multiple elite basketball stars, including Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon, Scottie Pippen, Dwyane Wade, and Kobe Bryant, to name a few.
A study featured in The Sport Journal confirmed that high EQ performers reported higher scores across the full realm of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and relationship management.
In Conclusion
We all could stand to internalize emotional intelligence, on and off of the basketball court. Learn more about how emotional intelligence can be adopted into the realm of professional basketball performance and beyond in the visual deep dive below:
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