NBA Coaches Emphatically Spoke Out Against The Attempted Coup By Trump Supporters In D.C.

The eyes of the world were on Washington, D.C. on Wednesday. Amid what was supposed to be a procedural event in which the United States Congress certified the results of the 2020 presidential election, a number of pro-Trump, anti-democracy terrorists engulfed the Capitol Building it what will go down as one of the darkest days in the nation’s history.

Words cannot put into context the sheer horror of a number of individuals, egged on by a president who refuses to accept that he lost the election to Joe Biden, breaking into the building, forcing their way into congressional offices, and marching through the Rotunda, some of them armed, all of them eager to overthrow democracy via an act of sedition. It caused the country to come to a screeching halt, and in the aftermath, a number of NBA coaches used their platforms before Wednesday’s slate of games to opine on what happened.

As is always the case when the time comes for coaches to speak out on societal issues, two of the most thoughtful, incisive answers that were given about the day’s events came from Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers and Atlanta Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce. Both spoke out about race and the current state of politics in America, with both remarking that the demonstrations were “sad.”

While his team is not in the nation’s capital on Wednesday, Wizards coach Scott Brooks also chimed in on what occurred in the city that his franchise calls home. Brooks said that “on many different fronts, it’s sad” what happened, and that everything that happened in D.C. was “disgusting.”

And in the news that will come to no surprise to people who are aware of the political leanings of NBA coaches, both Stan Van Gundy of the New Orleans Pelicans and Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors use their platforms to offer up skating rebukes of the President of the United States. While the Warriors do no play until later on Wednesday, Kern used his Twitter account, as he is so comfortable doing, to retweet a call that Donald Trump should be removed from the presidency immediately. Van Gundy also used his Twitter account to speak out, but expressed that he viewed everything as “discouraging” before the Pelicans host the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The coaches joined a number of current and former players in speaking out throughout the day.