Donald Trump predicts ongoing 'political' NBA protests would 'destroy' basketball

Over the past few months, NBA players have taken a powerful stand on systemic racism, boldly supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Players attended protests for George Floyd in the USA and continued to donate and speak about Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other victims of police brutality and racism. While presidential candidate Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama have extended their support for the NBA's decision to continue their protests even at the NBA bubble, President Donald Trump has been vocal about his criticism for NBA supporting BLM. 

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Donald Trump on the NBA boycott: "NBA, in particular, is gonna destroy basketball."

On Friday (Saturday IST), Donald Trump voiced his views on the NBA boycott once again, believing that the NBA will destroy the sport one day. "I think what they're doing to the NBA in particular is gonna destroy basketball," Trump said while speaking to Air Force One reporters. He later added that their political stand will be "threatening" to the league. “It’s very bad for the NBA, and it’s gonna prove to be very bad for football," he said.

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Trump's comments come after the Milwaukee Bucks decided to boycott their game against Orlando Magic. Sometime later, others teams also decided to sit out scheduled games. As a result, the NBA announced that all games are being postponed. The Bucks, based in Wisconsin, stated that they were unable to concentrate on basketball after Jacob Blake's shooting. Blake, 29, was a black man who was shot by police officers in broad daylight in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

A day ago, Donald Trump had referred to the NBA as a "political organization". His displeasure is known since players kneeeled during the national anthem in July. He even mentioned the NBA's declining ratings, claiming that he would no longer watch games if they continued disrespecting the country. He even called the players "very dumb" and "very nasty" for kneeling. In response, NBA icon LeBron James spoke to the media after a game about players not being bothered by Trump refusing to watch NBA games. 

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On Friday, the league announced that they would resume their games on the weekend. Their decision comes with a deal which will allow more access to voting for the upcoming US Presidential election. Initially, enraged players held a meeting were Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers were among teams who opted to cancel the season. However, the players changed their stand after later negotiations, agreeing that their games are the appropriate platform to advocate a change. 

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(Image credits: AP)