Three NBA Teams Will Reportedly Stop Staying At Donald Trump’s Hotels

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Multiple voices throughout the NBA world have spoken out against the results of the Presidential Election. On Tuesday, word broke that the displeasure could make its way into the day-to-day travel operations of at least three teams in the league. Marc Stein and Zach Lowe of ESPN bring word that three squads won’t stay in Donald Trump-branded hotels anymore.

Sources told ESPN.com that the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks have moved away from Trump hotels in New York City and Chicago, which bear Donald Trump’s name through a licensing agreement.

Sources say that another Eastern Conference team contracted to stay at the Trump SoHo in New York this season has likewise already decided to switch to a different property in Manhattan when its current contract expires at season’s end and that the Trump association is among the factors for the switch.

It should be noted that, within the piece, several NBA teams appear willing to stay in hotels under the Trump umbrella, but the fact that the three teams in question seem to be moving in a different direction for purely political and ideological purposes is noteworthy. When it comes to the Mavericks, owner Mark Cuban has been in the news as a vocal detractor of President-Elect Trump and, beyond that, Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry is a vocal Hillary Clinton supporter. Still, politics does not always make its way into the business decisions of basketball, and these decisions are groundbreaking to some extent.

Head coaches like Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr and Stan Van Gundy have made their thoughts known in very clear and distinct ways over the past handful of days, but when words change to actions, the measure of impact can take a leap. It remains to be seen as to the full fall-out of teams and potential travel changes in the future, but representatives of the NBA product certainly haven’t been shy in expressing their feelings since the evening of Nov. 8.

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