At least one prominent NBA head coach is displeased with players who have outwardly expressed endorsement or praise for President Donald Trump.
Stan Van Gundy, who served as a coach for various organizations between 1995 and 2018, said this much in a recent tweet.
“For me the saddest thing about this whole Trump presidency has been finding out that people I knew, liked and respected, including some guys I coached support this racist, misogynistic, narcissistic person,” he wrote.
“Painfully disappointing revelations.”
For me the saddest thing about this whole Trump presidency has been finding out that people I knew, liked and respected, including some guys I coached support this racist, misogynistic, narcissistic person. Painfully disappointing revelations.
— Stan Van Gundy (@realStanVG) September 30, 2020
Van Gundy worked as the head coach of the Miami Heat from 2003 to 2005, Orlando Magic from 2007 to 2012, and Detroit Pistons from 2014 to 2018. In that time he amassed a record of 523-384.
As of late, Van Gundy has been increasingly vocal in his criticism of President Trump.
In many ways, he speaks to the volatile feud that has existed and continues to exist between the sitting President and members of the NBA community.
“It’s terrible,” Trump said of the NBA a few months back.
“I think what they’re doing to the NBA in particular is going to destroy basketball. I can’t – I don’t even watch it. … You know when you watch sports, you want to sort of relax, but this is a whole different world. … You don’t want to stay in politics. You want to relax.”
President Trump even went so far as to use the NBA as a cautionary tale for other sports.
Why do bad things happen to good people. https://t.co/NRSKvX1j7f
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 3, 2020
“It’s very bad for the NBA and it’s going to prove to be very bad for football,” he continued.
“It’s going to be very bad for football and I think it’s very bad for the NBA. Maybe even NBA threatening. And it’s going to be very bad for baseball if they don’t get smarter.”
President Trump also bashed the NBA for its ratings woes.
“The kneeling (during the national anthem) has been horrible for basketball,” he said.
“They’ve had horrible ratings, low numbers. People are angry about it. They have enough politics with guys like me. There was a nastiness about the NBA the way (protesting) was done. The NBA is in trouble, bigger trouble than they understand.”
Some handled it better than others. https://t.co/xj0fF0SgOU
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 3, 2020
Many NBA stars seem to be unbothered by President Trump’s assessment, though. And they also don’t care about losing him as a fan.
“I really don’t think the basketball community are sad about losing his viewership,” LeBron James famously said.
Based on Van Gundy’s recent comments and the things President Trump has said about the NBA, it’s probably safe to assume that this feud isn’t going to die down any time soon.
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A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
