Gregg Popovich’s Take On The National Anthem Protests Is Classic Pop

The NBA is blessed to have two of the smartest, most well-rounded head coaches of any professional sports leagues in Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich. Both of them are brilliant basketball minds, and yet neither of them are so singularly obsessed with basketball that they forsake outside pursuits. They’re both worldly people who listen to perspectives different from their own, which is why both of them have come out in fervent support of athletes’ right to protest the national anthem.

First it was Kerr, and now Popovich – who spent five years in the Air Force, remember – offered his take at the Spurs’ media day on Monday:

Popovich said what needed to be said without overstepping, just as he always does. If that gives you any ideas, though, Pop will be the first one to shoot you down:

It remains to be seen how many players on the Spurs or elsewhere in the NBA will protest the national anthem, and when the season starts is when you’ll get the predictable backlash from people far more reactionary than Pop. But until then, he’s getting ahead of the issue so that when the questions inevitably come back up again, he can irritably say that he addressed the topic in preseason. He’d prefer to make jokes about Tim Duncan, anyway.

Never retire, Pop.