Doc Rivers Takes Big Shots at Donald Trump for Bashing NBA Kneelers

President Donald Trump appeared on Fox & Friends Wednesday morning and made critical comments about NBA players kneeling during the national anthem. Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has since weighed in on Trump’s remarks. He said that he doesn’t care that the president is turning off the games as a way of boycotting the league.

Rivers answered a question about the president on Wednesday while meeting with reporters. He wore a face mask and a hat with the word “VOTE” on the front. A reporter asked for a comment about Trump turning off the games and calling the kneeling “disgraceful.” Rivers responded with a short and blunt answer that left no doubts about his feelings on the matter.

“Well, we lost one guy,” Rivers said before laughing. “Like, so what? Really, I don’t even care. We know that justice is on our side. And this hat that I’m wearing is what our president is trying to get us to not do, which I think is just as disgraceful.”

Trump made the latest comments during his Wednesday interview. He claimed that ratings are down due to the protests and that a “lot of people agree” with his comments about the national anthem. Trump also said that if he is wrong, he is going to lose an election.

“When I see people kneeling during the playing and disrespecting our flag and national anthem, what I do personally is turn off the game,” Trump said, per USA Today. “I think it’s disgraceful. We work with [the NBA], we worked with them very hard trying to get open. I was pushing for them to get open. Then I see everybody kneeling during the anthem. That’s not acceptable to me. When I see them kneeling during the game, I just turn off the game. I have no interest in the game. Let me tell you this, plenty of other people out there, too.”

This spat is not the first time that Rivers responded to Trump’s criticism of players kneeling. He previously spoke about the issue during a 2017 press conference. At the time, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick was drawing attention for kneeling before NFL games, along with many of his peers.

When asked about the kneeling, Rivers said that he doesn’t believe players want to protest. He said that the players are kneeling because “there is injustice” and bigotry. Rivers then took aim at Trump and said that “If Donald Trump did his job, players would not be kneeling.”