LAS VEGAS — San Antonio Spurs and USA basketball head coach voiced his support for Colin Kaepernick and his fight for social justice, according to reports from USA Today.
Gregg Popovich told a group of reporters Tuesday that he thought the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback was doing "a very patriotic thing."
During the 2016 NFL season, Kaepernick became the subject of much public debate after he began kneeling during the national anthem in protest of police brutality and racial inequality.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump reignited the conversation around the controversial quarterback, telling reporters that Kaepernick should play in the NFL again "if he's good enough."
Tuesday, Popovich called Kaepernick's actions "an example of exercising one's own patriotism."
In explaining that patriotism meant "a lot of things to different people," Popovich told reporters that he believes "being a patriot is somebody that respects their country and understands that the best thing about our country is that we have the ability to fix things that have not come to fruition for a lot of people so far."
The legendary NBA head coach, affectionately known as "Coach Pop," is with the men's national basketball team in Las Vegas this week as the team prepares for the FIBA World Cup, which begins August 31 in China.
While there, Popovich has continued a legacy of speaking out on a matter of subjects, including politics. Last week, a question about the Congressional recess got Popovich going in the wake of the two major mass shootings this weekend.
“It would be a lot better if the people in power got off their a—es and got something done, in a lot of different areas. I think they’re on vacation right now," he said. "There's nothing going on right now, so they can take a break. They’ll come back and fix the gun situation, the environment and the inequality in pay... they'll fix all of that when they come back, I'm sure.”