Posted on 11/15/2016 8:10:08 PM PST by TigerClaws
At least three NBA teams have stopped staying at Donald Trump-branded hotels this season in part to avoid any implied association with the new president-elect, according to league sources.
Sources told ESPN.com that the Milwaukee Bucks, Memphis Grizzlies and Dallas Mavericks have moved away from Trump hotels in New York City and Chicago, which bear Donald Trump's name through a licensing agreement.
Sources say that another Eastern Conference team contracted to stay at the Trump SoHo in New York this season has likewise already decided to switch to a different property in Manhattan when its current contract expires at season's end and that the Trump association is among the factors for the switch.
Seven other teams told ESPN.com on Tuesday that they are still currently scheduled to stay at Trump-branded properties this season.
As a matter of privacy, ESPN has chosen not to name those eight teams in total so as not to publicly identify where they will be staying on this season's trips for games against the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets or Chicago Bulls.
Trump does not currently hold an equity stake in the Trump SoHo hotel, but his company still owns and operates the Chicago property.
Sources say that the Bucks stayed at the Trump International Tower and Hotel in Chicago on a preseason trip to play the Bulls in early October, but met with complications when they tried to make an 11th-hour cancellation. Milwaukee, sources say, has already made other arrangements for its regular-season road games against the Bulls.
The Grizzlies and Mavericks, sources say, have stayed at the Trump SoHo in the past but opted during the offseason to book new New York hotels for this season.
Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry and Mavericks owner 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 to Trump.
Since the election, three prominent NBA coaches -- Detroit's Stan Van Gundy, Golden State's Steve Kerr and San Antonio's Gregg Popovich -- have publicly addressed the unease that they and some of their players feel in the wake of Trump's election, starting with the dismay Van Gundy voiced that the country's new president, in his words, is "openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic and ethnocentric."
ESPN contacted all 30 teams this week to ask about their travel plans in New York and other NBA cities that feature Trump-branded hotels, which include Chicago, Miami, Toronto and Washington.
Several teams that have stayed at the Trump SoHo in particular in the past told ESPN that they are not staying there this season but did not specifically attribute the switch to any political reason. Several more said that they've never stayed at Trump-branded hotels.
NBA teams typically make their hotel arrangements for the coming season in August after the league releases the full 1,230-game schedule for the regular season. But formal data detailing where teams stay is not maintained on a leaguewide basis.
One travel expert familiar with NBA accounts told ESPN.com on Tuesday that the Trump SoHo has emerged in recent years as an increasingly popular property throughout the league because more teams are coming to New York for two-game trips since the Nets moved from New Jersey to Brooklyn starting with the 2012-13 season.
And LeBron says the word “posse” is.... racist.
To Indians?
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/sports/basketball/lebron-james-phil-jackson-posse-comment.html
What a bunch of racists. Literally...
Guess they haven’t noticed the NFL viewership.
Pray America woke
What a bunch of Children
The way the Bucks play, they deserve a Motel 6, not a Trump hotel.
Cut the cord folks. Just get Roku or Amazon Fire or Apple TV. I have no intention of watching any NBA games.
Ten years cable tv free here. Don’t miss it. It would be interesting to see how many Freepers have cut the cord. A Freeper did a vote count during the primaries. I wonder if he/she could count the Freepers with/without cable?
That’s it ! It’s been awhile, thanks :)
I hope they get bed bugs.
Good they won’t stink. Up the place..
less skank hoes in the lobbies and elevators at 3 am.
social politics ruined art, then cinema, now sports?
I like the TV stations I watch. I get many music channels with no ads. I also watch paranormal shows. MC is worth what I pay. Plus, I can watch local stations in cases of tornado warnings. This week is the anniversary of the last big one in 1989. We could not believe the damage done to one part of town. The 1974 one did a lot of damage too. It was that one which made our local stations get radar and generators.
Meh. Not real basketball anyway.
Thank goodness! Less cooties and ‘hos’ being sent to the rooms.
Go to Motel Six, asshats.
NBA= large negroes taking turns exerting themselves.
They’re entitled. I really think the NBA is imploding, just like the NFL. Let that thug ball league die.
Neat - going to lesser accommodations and raising the stock of the nice places....
The NBA’s countdown to NFL status begins in 3-2-1!
Dey goan take dey bassetball jones elsewhere...
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