Your dad can introduce you to the coach. He cannot hit the jump shot for you.

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And by “nepo baby,” of course, we mean someone who gets an unfair advantage or a major leg up in their industry because of who their parents are. These days, people also tend to lump in generational privilege — like inheriting your famous parent’s looks, wealth, connections, or any number of other advantages that can help you get ahead.

It's not just that they're attractive; they also look like and remind us of their parents — stars we already know and love!

So my friend’s argument wasn’t really that an athlete’s child gets no advantages. Obviously they can get great coaching, training, equipment, introductions, and opportunities. His point was that none of those advantages can fake elite performance. Eventually you have to step onto the field or court and prove you belong there.

So this friend’s argument was that, yes, athlete nepo babies still have to be legitimately great. But they may also have been given genetic, financial, educational, and professional advantages from birth that most aspiring athletes could never dream of having. That, he said, sounds a whole lot like nepotism to him.