The Sixers’ Doc Rivers and the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich are not ones to hold their tongues. After Daunte Wright’s death at the hands of the police in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota on Sunday, the two long-time coaches let their feelings, emotions, and frustrations be known.
“I think we have to stop saying it’s frustrating for all Black Americans,” said Rivers before their game against the Mavericks. “I think we should be frustrated for all Americans. I don’t know if it was a mistake or not. I saw the body cam video like everyone else, but I know that frustration is a real thing for everybody and for us.”
Rivers did not hold back last year when discussing Jacob Blake, the Black man who was shot multiple times by police in Wisconsin in August of 2020.
“All you hear is Donald Trump, and all of them, talking about fear,” said Rivers after Blake’s shooting. “We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot.”
On Monday night, Doc Rivers sounded off on yet another senseless killing of an unarmed Black man by the police.
“You keep hearing this cancel culture stuff. But we’re canceling Black lives. I think, to me, that’s a little more important, in my opinion, and it just keeps happening,” said Rivers. “We keep making mistakes when killing Black people.”
Gregg Popovich echoed Rivers’ feelings and put the system on blast once again.
“We see what’s happening with policing and Black men and some other people of color,” said Popovich. “With the massacres of our children, it’s the same thing. It goes on and on and everybody says ‘When is it going to be enough?'”
Popovich took it further and blasted Texas Governor Abbott for his falsehoods about “They’re coming for your guns” and his embarrassing blind allegiance to the former president.
Daunte Wright was shot and killed by officer Kim Potter, a 26 year veteran of the police force and, according to KSTP, the president of the Brooklyn Center Police Officer’s Association. After the bodycam footage was released to the public and deemed “an accidental discharge” by Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon, Potter was placed on administrative leave.
“It just makes you sick to your stomach,” said Popovich. “How many times does that have to happen?”
In response to Wright’s killing, three Minnesota teams, the Twins, Timberwolves, and Wild, all postponed their games on Monday night.
