Spurs coach Gregg Popovich: US is a global embarrassment under Trump

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich took aim at President Trump on Monday, calling the United States a “global embarrassment” under his leadership after his attacks on African-American athletes who have boycotted standing for the national anthem.

“Our country is an embarrassment in the world,” Popovich said in a press conference in response to the president’s remarks over the weekend.

{mosads}The San Antonio basketball coach ridiculed Trump for stating that players who linked arms during the games were honoring the national anthem, compared to those who knelt. The players who linked arms appeared to be standing in solidarity with one another in a sign of protest against the president’s attacks on certain NFL and NBA players.

“This is an individual who actually thought that when people held arms during the games, that they were doing it to honor the flag. That’s delusional. Absolutely delusional, but it’s what we have to live with,” the coach said.

“So you’ve got a choice: We can continue to bounce our heads off the wall with his conduct, or we can decide that the institutions of our country are more important, that people are more important, that the decent America that we all thought we had and want is more important, and get down to business at the grass-roots level and do what we have to do,” Popovich continued, while also wondering at what point Trump will cross the line for his supporters and at what point does “the morality and decency kick in?” 

Popovich, who has a history of criticizing the president, also called it both “disgusting” and “comical” that the president would act like a “sixth grader” by disinviting NBA player Stephen Curry to a White House ceremony that traditionally celebrates the team that wins the NBA championship title.

The president first went after NFL free agent Colin Kaepernick during a rowdy campaign rally in Alabama on Friday night, prompting a backlash from several prominent athletes and coaches, including Curry.