Doc Rivers unfazed by Trump refusing to watch games: 'Justice is on our side'
Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers is unconcerned with President Donald Trump's recent criticism of the NBA.
On Wednesday, Trump bemoaned players and staff kneeling during the national anthem before games during the season's restart. He called the demonstrations "disgraceful," adding that he turns off the game when personnel protest during the anthem.
His refusal to tune in doesn't bother Rivers.
"We lost one guy," Rivers said while laughing, according to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times. "I mean, so what? Like, really, I don't even care. We know that justice is on our side, right? And this hat that I'm wearing is what our president is trying to get us to not do, which I think is just as disgraceful."
During his media availability, Rivers wore a cap that read "Vote" in capital letters across the front.
In response to Trump saying he’s done with the NBA because of kneeling, Clippers coach Doc Rivers points time his hat, which says “Vote” and says that’s what the president is trying to stop people from doing. pic.twitter.com/3d03KbMsAm
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) August 5, 2020
Coaches and players across the league have kneeled together during the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner" in Orlando to protest systemic racism, civil injustice, and police brutality toward the Black community. Ahead of the Clippers' first game of the restart last Thursday, Rivers joined both his players and those on the Los Angeles Lakers in kneeling.
The @Lakers and @LAClippers kneel during the National Anthem. pic.twitter.com/A0OdsXNKm3
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 31, 2020
Rivers later admitted that he found it physically taxing to kneel for the duration of the anthem; however, he referred to the death of George Floyd, who died after a former Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for several minutes.
"In the middle of it I'm thinking, in two minutes my knee is hurting, yet there was a guy that had his knee on someone’s neck for eight minutes," he said last week, according to the Los Angeles Times' Broderick Turner. "Think about that. The national anthem took two minutes.
"There were guys that needed towels and things to get under their knees. Yet someone kneeled on another human being's neck for eight minutes. That's nuts when you think about it."