‘National sin’: What Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said before he didn’t kneel for anthem
Coach Gregg Popovich stood for the national anthem when the San Antonio Spurs played the Kings on Friday in their first game inside the NBA bubble, but he took a stronger stand against racism and injustice before the game.
Most of the attention was on Popovich’s decision to stand instead of kneeling with Kings coach Luke Walton and their players in what has become a league-wide show of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Popovich, a 71-year-old Air Force veteran, declined to explain his decision following the game, but he spoke at length about the NBA’s power to promote change in a Zoom session with reporters 90 minutes before tipoff.
In response to a question from The Sacramento Bee, Popovich said he believes the NBA restart represents another moment in history when sports has the power to create societal change and confront what he called “a national sin.”
“I definitely believe that,” Popovich said.
Popovich continued for nearly two minutes, expressing support for player demonstrations while delivering a blistering rebuke of racism, injustice and police brutality in the United States. The nation has experienced months of protests and social unrest after George Floyd and Breonna Taylor died at the hands of police. Popovich said the league must remain focused on social issues even as the NBA resumes its season at Walt Disney World Resort near Orlando following a 140-day shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“While we’re here, considering what’s going on in our country with race, it’s always been our national sin and it’s always been something that has never been faced as well as it should have been,” Popovich said. “With the events that we’ve all witnessed in this last year, it’s just logical and wise to keep that momentum going and try to keep this on the front burner because it is a national embarrassment. It keeps us from being the country that we should be or the country that was promised to everyone, and nothing could be more poignant than to have all of the teams here, all committed to making statements and letting it be known that this has got to change, and not just a little bit.”
Popovich, Walton and players from both teams wore Black Lives Matter T-shirts before the game began. All players and most coaches kneeled for a prerecorded rendition of the national anthem by San Antonio native Spensha Baker, many locking arms and bowing their heads, but Popovich and lead assistant coach Becky Hammon remained standing.
Popovich was asked why after the game.
“I prefer to keep that to myself,” Popovich said. “Everybody has to make a personal decision. The league has been great about that. Everybody has the freedom to react any way that they want. For whatever reasons that I have, I reacted the way I wanted to.”
Spurs star DeMar DeRozan noted that Popovich has a long history of speaking out against racial injustice.
“You know Pop speaks out,” DeRozan said. “When it comes to Becky, she’s been (on the) front line, fighting for equality since I’ve been a fan of hers playing in the WNBA. So everybody has their own right of making a statement and you can’t vilify nobody for not doing what the other group is doing. I’m all for it.”
This story was originally published August 1, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
