AT least three NBA teams have revealed they will boycott hotels owned by US president-elect Donald Trump in a bid to disassociate themselves with the controversial figure.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks will no longer stay at the Trump-owned establishments on road trips to New York or Chicago.
The move is reportedly to avoid any implied association with the president-elect, according to NBA sources.
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A fourth, unnamed Eastern Conference side – contracted to stay at the Trump Soho in New York for the season – has also decided to pull the plug on their deal at the end of the season.
Seven other teams told ESPN they were willing to continue staying at Trump-owned hotels for the 2016-17 campaign when taking on the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets and the Chicago Bulls.
Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and Mavericks chief Mark Cuban are both high-profile supporters of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who last week lost the race to be the United States’ 45th president.
The world of basketball has been rocked ever since last week’s surprise announcement, with a host of players and coaches expressing their unease.
Three big-name coaches – the Detroit Pistons’ Stan Van Gundy, Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr and San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich – have publicly admitted their fears following the election result.
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Van Gundy even went as far as saying: “[Trump is] openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic and ethnocentric.”
In recent seasons, more and more teams have been staying at the Trump Soho in New York.
Ever since the start of the 2012-13 season – when the Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn – tams are often sent on two-game trips to the Big Apple.
The Trump property then saw a major uptick in visits from NBA squads, however that is now already on the decline.
Other North American cities to feature both NBA teams and a Trump hotel are Miami, Toronto and Washington, however it is unclear as yet if they will be affected.
NBA teams typically book their hotels for the full 1,230-game schedule in August, when the fixture list is released.
But this famous election seems to have forced some to quickly back-pedal on those deals…
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