President Donald Trump had some interesting things to say to NBA coaches Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich. On Wednesday, Trump spoke about the situation with the NBA and China, and said the NBA needs to “work out their own situation.” He also said Kerr and Popovich were “pandering to China.”
This stems from what Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey recently tweeted out that showed support for the protesters in Hong Kong. When Kerr, who has been very outspoken when it comes to Trump, was asked about it, he declined to comment. When Trump heard about this, he went after the Golden State Warriors head coach.
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“He couldn’t answer the question — he was shaking, ‘Oh, oh, oh, I don’t know. I don’t know,’” Trump said per ESPN. “He didn’t know how to answer the question, and yet he’ll talk about the United States very badly.”
Popovich also declined to comment on what Morey had to say and Trump went after the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
“I watched Popovich — sort of the same thing, but he didn’t look quite as scared actually,” Trump said. “But they talk badly about the United States, but when it talks about China, they don’t want to say anything bad. I thought it was pretty sad, actually. It’ll be very interesting.”
The tweet by Morey is now deleted but it said, “Fight for Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong,” which led to the Chinese Basketball Association suspending all cooperation with the Rockets. Owner Tim Fertitta released a statement to let China and everyone else know the organization doesn’t feel the same way as Morey.
“I have the best general manager in the league. Everything is fine with Daryl and me. We got a huge backlash, and I wanted to make clear that [the organization] has no [political] position. We’re here to play basketball and not to offend anybody,” Fertitta said.
Trump went on to say it’s sad that Kerr and Popovich are pandering to China but they take aim at the U.S.
“I watch the way that Kerr and Popovich and some of the others were pandering to China, and yet to our own country, it’s like they don’t respect it,” Trump said. “It’s like they don’t respect it. I said, ‘What a difference — isn’t it sad?’ It’s very sad. To me, it’s very sad.”
